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Uefiiiet. 


The  Man  with  the  Iron  Hand, 


CHEVALIER   HENRY    DE   TONTY'S   EXPLOITS    IN    THE    VALLEY 
OF   THE    MISSISSIPPI. 


HENRY    E.    LEGLER. 


Milwaukee,  Wisconsin. 

1896. 


CONTENTS. 


Introduction,   -        -        .        - -  5 

Chapter  I. — Under  the  Lilies  op  France,    -----  9 

Chapter  II. — The  Building  of  the  Griffon,    -        -         -        -  11 

Chapter  III. — Into  the  Wilderness  of  the  West,      -        -        -  14 

Chapter  IV. — The  Country  of  the  Illinois,     -        -        -        -  16 

Chapter  V. — The  Fort  of  the  Broken  Heart,    -                 -        -  18 

Chapter  VI. — Raid  of  the  Iroquois,  ------  20 

Chapter  VII. — Death  of  Father  Gabriel, 23 

Chapter  VIII. — Flight  to  Green  Bay,       -----  25 

Chapter  IX. — At  the  Mouth  op  the  Mississippi,        -        -        -  27 

Chapter  X. — Fort  St.  Louis  on  the  Rock,        -        -        -        -  29 

Chapter  XI. — In  the  Wilderness  op  the  South,        -        -        -  33 

Chapter  XII. — With  the  Colony  op  Old  Biloxi,    -        -        -  36 

Appendix, -        -  38 


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INTRODUCTION. 


In  the  geographical  nomenclature  of  the  North  American  conti- 
nent are  perpetuated  the  names  of  the  adventurous  men  whose  achieve- 
ments have  made  the  story  of  the  great  lakes  region  the  most  roman- 
tic period  of  American  history.  Cities,  rivers  and  islands  suggest  by 
their  names  the  adventures  of  hardy  coureur  de  bois  and  zealous 
Jesuit  and  Sulpitian  priests.  The  names  of  La  Salle,  DuLuth,  Joliet, 
Perrot,  d'Iberville,  Bienville,  Marquette  and  Allouez  have  been  thus 
associated  vi^ith  the  scenes  of  their  adventures.  Even  Louis  Hennepin, 
the  vainglorious  Franciscan  friar,  has  had  honor  done  his  name  by 
two  great  commonwealths  of  the  old  Northwest.  But  nowhere  on 
the  modern  map — from  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  to  Baffin's  Bay  and  from 
the  Vermilion  Sea  to  the  Bay  of  Fundy,  appears  the  name  of  'Che- 
valier Henry  de  Tonty. 

Historians  have  accorded  Tonty  a  meagerness  of  mention  amount- 
ing to  neglect.  With  singular  unanimity — for,  like  the  doctors,  histo- 
rians are  wont  to  disagree  in  their  judgments — they  have  recognized 
his  right  to  a  leading  place  among  the  men  whose  courage  and  for- 
titude rendered  possible  the  exploration  and  settlement  of  the  great 
Mississippi  basin;  but  a  connected  narrative  of  Tonty's  life  remains 
to-day  unwritten.  It  can  be  found  only  in  scattered  fragments,  inci- 
dents that  figure  in  the  telling  of  other  men's  careers.^ 


1.  A  valuable  article  on  the  Tonty  family  has  recently  been  written  by  the  eminent 
Canadian  historian,  Benjamin  Siilte.  It  is  in  French,  and  appears  in  Vol.  XI.  of  the 
proceedings  of  the  Royal  Society  of  Canada.     Mr.   Suite  does  not  pretend  to  treat  the 


6  INTRODUCTION. 

Perhaps  the  brilliance  which  has  invested  the  achievements  of  the 
Sieur  deJa  Salle  has  cast  into  shadow  the  part  played  by  his  steadfast 
friend  and  devoted  companion.  Perhaps,  as  has  been  suggested  by 
Jared  Sparks,  Tonty's  remarkable  history  has  never  been  fitly  told  be- 
cause there  were  with  him  few  to  observe  and  fewer  to  record  his 
achievements. 

The  memoir  of  Tonty  preserved  in  the  archives  of  the  French  ma- 
rine department,  is  a  bare  recital,  disappointing  in  its  lack  of  detail, 
though  admirably  free  from  vaunting  comment  or  self-praise.  The 
narrative,  moreover,  conies  to  an  abrupt  conclusion  during  the  middle 
of  its  author's  career  in  the  Mississippi  valley  region. 


subject  exhaustively,  but  aims  rather  to  inspire  tho  writing  of  a  complete  biogi-aphy  of 
Henry  de  Tonty  by  calling  attention  to  the  unwritten  history  of  La  Salle's  companion, 
and  suggesting  the  abundant  possibilities  contained  in  such  material. 


(Fac-simile  of  Tonty's  signature  »s  it  appears  on  the 
document  reciting  the  foimalities  attendant  upon  tak- 
ing possession  of  the  Mississippi  Valley.) 


THE  MAN  WITH  THE  IRON   HAND. 


UNDER   THE   LILIES    OP   FRANCE. 


When  the  lazzaroni  of  Naples  were  stirred  to  bloody  revolt  by 
the  peasant  fisherman  Masaniello,  in  1647,  two  men  of  distinction  took 
a  leading  part  in  the  insurrection.  One  was  the  famous  painter  Sal- 
vator  Rosa;  the  other  Lorenzo  Tonty,  a  Neapolitan  banker  who  had 
achieved  some  note  as  a  financier.  The  Spanish  viceroy's  arbitrary 
rule  over  the  peasantry  prompted  these  men  to  warm  espousal  of 
the  people's  cause.  Tonty  seized  the  fortress  of  Gaeta,  in  the  sub- 
urbs of  Naples,  and  successfully  maintained  possession  during  Masa- 
niello's  reign  of  seven  eventful  days.  When  Masaniello,  whom  suc- 
cess converted  from  a  patriot  into  a  capricious  despot,  was  assassinated 
by  his  own  men,  Tonty  sought  an  asylum  in  Paris.  There  his  fel- 
low-countryman, the  crafty  Cardinal  Mazarin,  reigned  prime  minis- 
ter of  France,  the  chosen  successor  of  Cardinal  Richelieu.  It  was  an 
era  when  wars  and  corrupt  officials  had  depleted  the  royal  treasury. 
In  the  year  1653  Tonty  suggested  to  the  cardinal  that  the  king's 
purse  might  be  replenished  by  a  system  of  life  insurance  that  to  this 
day  retains  the  name  tontine.  The  first  trial  resulted  in  failure,  though 
later  the  French  king  used  the  tontine  plan  to  good  advantage  as  a 
means  to  fill  his  coffers.  Tonty  incurred  the  royal  displeasure  and  was 
committed  to  the  Bastile.     There  he  languished  many  years. 

Henry  de  Tonty  was  the  son  of  this  man.  Born  in  the  year  1650, 
he  was  eighteen  years  old  when  he  entered  the  French  army  as  a 
cadet,  serving  in  1668  and  1669.  In  seven  campaigns  he  fought  under 
the  lilies  of  France,  four  on  beard  ships  of  war  and  three  in  the  gal- 
leys. That  he  served  with  valor  is  indicated  by  his  successive  promo- 
tion from  cadet  to  midshipman,  to  lieutenant  and  to  the  rank  of  cap- 
tain.   At  Messina  he  was  placed  in  charge  of  a  camp  of  20,000  men. 

During  the  fierce  fighting  at  Libisso  a  grenade  shot  away  his  right 
hand.  It  is  related  of  him  that  while  awaiting  the  delayed  services  of 
a  surgeon,  Tonty,  with  admirable  nerve,  amputated  the  ragged  rem- 


10  HENRY  DE  TONTY. 

nant  of  his  hand  with  a  knife.  The  lost  member  of  flesh  was  replaced 
by  a  hand  constructed  of  iron,  which  he  usually  wore  gloved.^ 

Taken  prisoner  at  Libisso,  for  six  months  Tonty  was  confined 
at  Metasse.  His  release  was  effected  by  exchanging  for  him  the  son 
of  the  governor  of  that  place.  Upon  his  return  to  France,  the  king 
bestowed  300  livres  upon  him  in  recognition  of  his  services.  He 
again  joined  in  the  hardships  of  the  Sicilian  campaign,  serving  as  a 
volunteer  in  the  galleys.  Peace  threw  him  out  of  employment  and 
Tie  was  again  an  inactive  soldier  of  fortune  in  Paris,  restlessly  hoping 
for  renewal  of  hostilities. 

It  was  in  1677  that  Robert  de  la  Salle  reached  France  from  Mon- 
treal, to  seek  the  countenance  of  the  court  in  the  prosecution  of  the 
vast  designs  he  had  formed  for  exploring  the  unknown  interior  of 
the  continent  south  of  the  great  lakes.  Upon  recommendation  of 
Prince  Conti,  whose  favor  Tonty  seems  to  have  won  by  his  valorous 
conduct  in  the  French  wars,  La  Salle  engaged  the  young  man  as  his 
lieutenant. 


2.  "Tonty  carried  a  hand  made  of  copper,  in  lieu  of  one  lost  in  battle."— History 
■of  Illinois,  by  Moses.    Vol.  I.,  p.  73. 

"He  (Tonty)  wore  a  band  of  iron  or  some  other  metal,  which  was  usually  covered 
•with  a  glove."— Parkman's  La  Salle,  p.  116. 

"Duluth  was  a  cousin  of  Tonty  with  the  silver  hand,  as  La  Salle's  friend  was  desig- 
nated because  of  his  metal  member."— Winsor's  Cartier  to  Frontenae,  p.  273. 

"La  Salle  returned  from  Prance,  accompanied  by  the  brave  oflBcer  Henry  Tonty. 
who  had  lost  one  hand  in  battle,  but  who,  with  an  iron  substitute  for  the  lost  mem- 
ber, could  still  be  efficient  in  case  of  a  conflict."— Edw.  D.  Neill  in  "Discovery  Along- 
the  Great  Lakes." 

La  Potherie  is  quoted  by  Parkman  as  saying  that  Tonty  used  his  metal  hand  once 
or  twice  to  good  purpose  when  the  Indians  became  disorderly,  "in  braking  the  heads 
of  the  most  contumacious  or  knocking  out  their  teeth.  Not  knowing  at  the  time  the 
eecret  of  the  unusual  efficacy  of  his  blows,  they  regarded  hir  a  'medicine'  of  the 

first  order." 


HENRY  DE  TONTY.  11 


II. 


THE    BUILDING    OP   THE    GRIFFON. 


On  the  voyage  from  Rochelle,  whence  they  sailed  July  14,  1678,  to 
Quebec,  where  they  arrived  two  months  later,  La  Salle  learned  to  ap- 
preciate the  many  good  qualities  of  which  his  lieutenant  was  later 
to  give  him  such  signal  proof.  Here  La  Salle  formed  the  only  inti- 
mate friendship  of  his  life,  and  was  rewarded  by  attaching  to  himself 
a  man  whose  loyalty  and  disinterested  devotion  ceased  only  with 
death. 

It  was  the  purpose  of  La  Salle  to  follow  up  the  discoveries  of 
Joliet  and  Marquette  in  their  Mississippi  voyage,  and  to  ascertain 
by  descending  to  the  mouth  whether  <hat  stream  disembogued  into 
the  Vermilion  Sea  (Gulf  of  California),  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  or  was 
indeed  the  long-sought  medium  of  communication  with  Japan  and 
China — the  Cipango  and  Cathay  of  Marco  Polo.  In  the  ship  that 
bore  the  adventurers  to  New  France  were  the  materials  for  building 
a  vessel  to  navigate  the  lakes.  Artisans  skilled  in  such  construction 
had  also  been  brought  along. 

Without  loss  of  time,  the  companions  set  about  in  making  prep- 
arations for  their  journey  into  an  unknown  country.  The  marvelous 
energy  and  fertility  of  resource  displayed  by  Tonty  astonished  and 
delighted  La  Salle. 

"His  honorable  character  and  his  amiable  disposition  were  well- 
known  to  you,"  he  wrote  to  Prince  Conti  with  enthusiasm  unusual  in 
this  cold  man,  "but  perhaps  you  would  not  have  thought  him  capable 
of  doing  things  for  which  a  strong  constitution,  an  acquaintance 
with  the  country  and  the  use  of  both  hands  seemed  absolutely  nec- 
essary. Nevertheless,  his  energy  and  address  make  him  equal  to  any- 
thing; and  now,  at  a  season  when  everybody  is  in  fear  of  the  ice,  he 
is  setting  out  to  begin  a  new  fort,  two  hundred  leagues  from  this 
place." 

In  making  the  trip  to  Niagara  from  Ft.  Frontenac,  on  Lake  On- 
tario where  the  modern  city  of  Kingston  now  is,  Tonty  experienced 
the  first  evidence  of  the  secret  treachery  directed  against  La  Salle.  The 
boat  in  which  they  came  was  wrecked  through  the  obstinacy  of  the 
pilot,  who  had  doubtless  been  tampered  with  by  the  enemies  of  La 
Salle.     Niagara  was  selected  as  the  site  of  the  shipyard.     It  was  win- 


12  ^  HENRY  DE  TONTY. 

ter,  but  the  work  of  building  the  boat  was  begun  with  great  energy, 
the  distrustful  Seneca  Indians  having  been  first  placated  in  a  measure 
by  liberal  presents.  They  had  brought  up  the  St.  Lawrence  and 
along  the  twelve-mile  portage  trail  of  the  Niagara  gorge  the  anchors, 
cordage,  sails  and  other  material  needful  for  equipment  of  the  vessel 
they  were  to  build.  La  Salle  remained  long  enough  to  drive  the  first 
bolt,  and  returned  to  Ft.  Frontenac,  at  the  other  end  of  the  lake.  He 
left  Tonty  in  command  with  instructions  to  complete  the  vessel. 

It  was  a  task  of  some  magnitude  that  devolved  upon  this  man. 
If  he  had  an  iron  hand,  he  had  a  will  of  steel.  The  Senecas  of  the  vi- 
cinity, doubtless  inspired  to  hostility  not  only  by  the  enemies  of  La 
Salle  at  Montreal,  but  also  suspicious  that  the  ribbed  structure  grow- 
ing before  their  eyes  meant  menace  to  the  western  fur  trade  which 
they  had  heretofore  monopolized,  threatend  to  make  a  bonfire  of  the 
vessel.  Provisions  were  scant,  the  boat  wrecked  by  the  treacherous 
pilot  having  contained  a  needed  supply.  But  for  the  prowess  of  two 
New  England  Indians  whom  La  Salle  had  attached  to  his  service 
and  who  became  his  devoted  followers,  the  thirty  men  and  the  Father 
Recollect  (Hennepin)  with  Tonty  would  have  starved.  The  Senecas 
would  furnish  no  corn,  and  even  the  Mohegan  hunters  could  not 
supply  enough  game  to  fill  the  stomachs  of  the  hungry,  cold  and  dis- 
pirited men.  These  men  grumbled  and  were  with  difficulty  prevented 
from  resorting  to  mutiny  or  desertion.  To  add  to  the  trials  of  this 
stranger  in  a  strange  land,  Father  Hennepin,  the  Recollect  accom- 
panying the  party,  did  not  spare  his  peevish  complaints — doubtless 
prompted  by  envy,  because  La  Salle  had  not  placed  him  in  commanS. 
It  was  here  that  Tonty  made  an  enemy  of  the  Franciscan  by  bluntly 
advising  him  to  confine  his  efforts  to  the  spiritual  affairs  of  the  party. 

Under  these  trying  conditions  was  constructed  the  first  vessel 
that  ever  plowed  the  waters  of  Lakes  Erie,  Huron  and  Michigan. 
As  it  progressed  towards  completion,  the  Iroquois  braves  grew  more 
menacing.  One  of  them  attempted  to  kill  the  blacksmith,  but  the 
latter  kept  the  Indian  at  bay  with  a  bar  of  red-hot  iron,  till  assistance 
arrived.  The  feverish  energy  of  Tonty  spurred  the  men  to  similai 
exertion,  despite  their  sullen  discontent  bred  by  privation,  cold  and 
danger  of  attack. 

In  May  the  vessel  was  ready  to  launch.  Amid  the  roar  of  her 
cannon  and  the  chorus  of  the  Te  Deum  from  thirty  bearded  throats, 
the  vessel  slid  from  her  stocks  into  the  Niagara  river — safe  at  last 
from  the  threatened  molestation  of  the  Indians.  As  a  further  precau- 
tion, the  vessel  was  towed  into  mid-stream.  Five  cannon  ominously 
glowered  from  her  portholes  upon  the  Indians  on  the  bank  and  gave 
warning  of  the  danger  that  lay  in  wait  for  hostile  visitors. 

The  testimony  of  the  hardships  and  trials  that  beset  Tonty  during 
this  winter's  work  of  boat-building  is  furnished  by  others  than  him- 
self.    In   his   own    memoir   he   assumes   no   credit   for   himself.     The 


HENRY  DE  TONTY.  13 

building  of  a  vessel  in  the  midst  of  hostile  Indians,  several  hundred 
miles  from  the  nearest  settlement  of  Frenchmen,  with  a  half-starved 
and  half-frozen  crew  inspired  to  mutiny  by  agents  of  the  Montreal 
merchants,  is  a  long  story,  but  he  tells  it  in  a  line.  It  is  worth  while 
to  quote  what  he  says  about  it  in  his  memoir,  as  characteristic  of  this 
man: 

"The  boat   was   completed   in  the   spring  of  1679"   is   his  laconic 
description   of  the  winter's  eventful  experiences. 


14  HENRY  DE  TONTY. 


III. 


INTO    THE    WILDERNESS    OF    THE    WEST. 


It  was  not  until  summer  was  well  advanced  that  La  Salle  joined 
the  party  aboard  the  Griffon,  as  the  vessel  of  45  tons  burden  was 
christened.  The  heraldic  emblem  of  Count  Frontenac,  governor  of 
New  France,  was  a  representation  of  this  fabulous  monster,  half  eagle 
and  half  lion.  In  his  honor  had  the  name  been  given,  and  a  griffin 
had  been  rudely  carved  in  wood  at  the  prow. 

"I  will  yet  make  the  griffin  fly  above  the  crows,"  were  the  savage 
words  of  La  Salle  in  emphasizing  his  regard  for  Count  Frontenac 
and  his  cordial  dislike  of  the  black-gowned  Jesuits. 

It  was  thus  with  moody  satisfaction  that  he  named  his  vessel  the 
"Griffon"  and  sailed  in  quest  of  the  means  that  should  bring  confu- 
sion upon  his  enemies.  Upon  his  return  to  Ft.  Frontenac  he  had 
learned  that  their  machinations  had  resulted  in  the  seizure  of  his  fort 
and  all  his  possessions  on  some  specious  pretexts. 

Tonty  did  not  sail  in  the  first  trip  that  the  Griffon  made.  He 
went  ahead  in  a  bark  canoe  in  quest  of  some  men  whom  La  Salle  had 
dispatched  into  the  Illinois  country  some  months  before  to  secure 
supplies  and  to  barter  for  beaver  skins.  Arrived  at  the  Straits  (De-  • 
troit),  Tonty  sent  up  three  columns  of  smoke,  and  on  the  tenth  of 
August  his  signal  greeted  the  party  on  the  vessel.  Tonty  here  em- 
barked with  his  men,  and  the  Griffon  passed  up  the  straits.  On  the 
23d,  Lake  Huron  first  felt  upon  its  surface  the  cutting  keel  of  a  sail- 
ing vessel.  It  was  not  long  before  one  of  the  terrible  fall  gales  which 
sweep  over  that  broad  sheet  of  water  sent  the  little  craft  trembling  be- 
tween the  engulfing  waves. 

"Our  people  lost  all  hope  of  escape,"  says  the  account  of  Father 
Membre,  one  of  the  Recollets  of  the  party,  "but  a  vow  which  they 
made  to  St.  Anthony  of  Padua,  the  patron  of  mariners,  delivered  them 
by  a  kind  of  miracle,  so  that,  after  long  making  head  against  the  wind, 
the  vessel  on  the  27th  reached  Missilimakinak." 

The  good  father  does  not  give  minute  details  as  to  the  nature  of 
the  vow  offered  to  St.  Anthony  of  Padua.  When  their  terror  had  abat- 


HENRY  DE  TONTY.  15 

ed  with  the  storm,  the  crew  doubtless  forgot  all  about  it.  The  vessel 
was  destined  to  meet  with  sad  mishap  later  on.^ 

At  this  time  Michilimackinac  was  the  Jesuit  stronghold  in  the 
western  country.  Here  were  gathered  also  the  lawless  rangers  of  the 
woods,  wko  set  at  defiance  the  inhibition  of  the  authorities  at  Mon- 
treal relative  to  the  trade  in  beaver  furs.  The  Ottawas  and  Hurons 
gathered  here  were  also  inimical  to  La  Salle.  Four  of  La  Salle's  men 
who  had  been  sent  ahead  to  barter  .were  found  here  and  were  arrested. 
They  had  dissipated  the  goods  entrusted  to  them  and  bred  hostility 
to  their  chief.  Tonty  went  to  the  Sault  Ste.  Marie  and  captured  two 
other  deserters;  the  others  of  the  fifteen  men  escaped. 

Early  in  September  the  Griffon  sailed  into  Green  Bay,  mooring  at 
one  of  the  islands  (probably  Washington  Island)  whose  astonished 
inhabitants  gazed  with  wonder  at  this  "house  that  walked  on  'he 
water."  Nearly  half  a  century  before  Jean  Nicolet  had  skirted  the 
same  island,  the  first  white  man  to  step  upon  Wisconsin  soil.  The 
Pottawattamies  who  then  inhabited  the  cluster  of  islands  at  the  en- 
trance of  the  Bay  proved  friendly.  La  Salle  loaded  his  vessel  with 
beaver  skins  and  dispatched  it  back  to  Niagara  in  order  to  appease  his 
creditors  with  the  valuable  cargo.  He  directed  that  this  done,  the 
Grififon  should  immediately  return  to  Lake  Michigan  with  additional 
supplies. 

The  Griffon  was  never  seen  again.  Whether  she  foundered  in  a 
storm  or  whether  the  crew — ripe  for  mutiny  before  their  departure, — 
scuttled  the  vessel  after  rifling  the  cargo  and  then  escaped  to  the 
Indians  of  the  North,  forever  remained  a  mystery.^ 


3.  Hennepin  gives  a  highly-colored  picture  of  the  storm.  He  remarks  that  even 
La  Salle's  courage  disappeared  before  the  storm's  fury. 

4.  "They  sailed  the  18th,  with  a  westerly  wind,  and  fired  a  gun  on  taking  leave. 
It  was  never  known  what  course  they  steered,  nor  how  they  perished;  but  it  is  supposed 
that  the  ship  struck  upon  a  sand,  and  was  there  hurried.  This  was  a  great  loss,  for 
that  ship  with  its  cargo  cost  above  60,000  livres."— Hennepin's  Description  de  la  Louis- 
lane,"   Paris,    1683. 


16  HENRY  DE  TONTY. 


IV. 


THE    COUNTRY    OP   THE    ILLINOIS. 


It  had  been  agreed  by  La  Salle  and  Tonty  to  rendezvous  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Aliamis  river  (St.  Joseph)  and  to  proceed  thence  to  the 
Illinois  river.  La  Salle,  journeying  down  the  western  shore  of  Lake 
Michigan,  passed  the  future  sites  of  Milwaukee  and  Chicago.  He 
arrived  at  the  appointed  place  first,  Tonty's  search  for  the  deserters 
at  the  Sault  Ste.  Marie  having  delayed  him.  Tonty  made  his  way 
along  the  eastern  shore  of  the  lake.  When  within  90  miles  of  the 
Miamis,  provisions  gave  out,  and  the  party  landed  to  hunt.  Tonty 
pushed  on  to  La  Salle's  camp.  There  he  found  a  stockade  partly 
constructed.  La  Salle  was  in  an  irritable  frame  of  mind  over  the 
prolonged  absence  of  the  men,  and  Tonty's  inability  to  give  him  news 
concerning  the  vessel  which  had  left  Green  Bay  freighted  with  furs, 
did  not  tend  to  soothe  him.     Tonty  records  in  his  narrative: 

"He  told  me  he  wished  all  the  men  had  come  with  me,  in  order 
that  he  might  proceed  to  the  Illinois.  I  therefore  retraced  my  way  to 
find  them,  but  the  violence  of  the  wind  forced  me  to  land,  and  our 
canoe  was  upset  by  the  violence  of  the  waves.  It  was,  however,  saved, 
but  everything  that  was  in  it  was  lost.  For  want  of  provisions  we 
lived  for  three  days  on  acorns." 

Upon  Tonty's  return,  the  reunited  party  descended  the  Miamis, 
portaged  to  the  desolate  marshes  that  give  birth  to  the  Kankakee, 
and  finally  glided  into  the  Illinois  river.  Near  the  site  of  the  present 
town  of  Utica,  they  came  upon  a  village  of  the  Illinois  Indians.  The 
wigwams  were  vacant,  for  it  was  the  season  of  the  great  winter  hunt. 
The  Frenchmen  had  consumed  all  their  provisions,  and  in  their  ne- 
cessity they  did  not  scruple  to  open  the  village  caches  and  to  help 
themselves  to  corn  stored  therein.^ 


5.  "The  term  cache,  meaning  a  place  of  concealment,  was  originally  used  by  the 
French  Canadian  trappers  and  traders.  It  is  made  by  digging  a  hole  in  the  ground, 
eomewhat  In  the  shape  of  a  jug,  which  Is  lined  with  dry  sticlis,  grass,  or  anything 
else  that  will  protect  Its  contents  from  the  dampness  of  the  earth.  In  this  place  th« 
goods  to  be  concealed  are  carefully  stowed  away." — Gregg's  (Commerce  of  the  Prairies, 
vol.  I,  p.  68. 


HENRY  DE  TONTY.  17 

Dispirited  by  the  fatigues  of  the  journey,  and  the  certainty  of  hard- 
ships and  dangers  yet  to  come,  some  of  the  men  had  planned  to  de- 
sert. Fortunately — or  rather  unfortunately  as  the  sequel  proved — it 
turned  so  bitterly  cold  that  they  did  not  venture  to  do  so. 

Continuing  their  river  route,  the  entire  party  floated  into  Lake 
Peoria — an  expansion  of  the  stream,  and  at  its  lower  end  were  made 
aware  of  the  proximity  of  Indians  by  curling  columns  of  smoke. 
Uncertain  as  to  the  reception  that  would  be  accorded  them  by  Indi- 
ans whose  underground  granaries  they  had  pillaged,  and  who  had 
been  represented  to  them  long  before  as  hostile,  the  Frenchmen  at 
once  placed  themselves  oji  the  defensive.  The  boats  were  ranged  in 
line,  La  Salle  on  the  left  and  Tonty  on  the  right,  and  they  boldly 
headed  for  the  Indian  encampment. 

There  the  unexpected  appearance  of  the  little  fleet  had  created 
the  utmost  consternation.  The  squaws  and  their  children  ran  scream- 
ing into  the  woods,  and  some  of  the  valiant  red  men  deemed  it 
prudent  to  follow.  Others,  however,  as  the  white  men  landed  and 
gave  no  evidence  of  hostile  intentions,  advanced  with  that  universally 
recognized  emblem  of  good  will — the  calumet.  The  Frenchmen  re- 
sponded by  holding  aloft  the  same  token  of  peace.  The  calumet  was 
thereupon  danced  to  La  Salle  and  Tonty,  who  hastened  to  cement  the 
friendship  by  compensating  the  Illinois  for  the  fifty  bushels  of  corn 
taken  from  their  caches.  This  alliance  with  the  Illinois,  which  was  to 
))lay  such  a  large  part  in  the  career  of  Tonty,  occurred  Jan.  3.  1680. 


18  HENRY  DE  TONTY. 


V. 


THE  PORT  OF  THE  BROKEN  HEART. 


It  was  not  long  before  troubles  accumulated.  No  word  came  to- 
the  anxious  voyageurs  concerning  the  Griffon.  Letters  had  been  sus- 
pended conspicuously  from  the  branches  of  trees  along  the  route  to 
guide  expected  messengers  upon  the  return  of  the  vessel. 

But  no  messengers  came. 

Instead,  the  altered  demeanor  of  the  Indians  gave  ground  for  the 
belief  that  the  emissaries  of  La  Salle's  enemies  had  followed  him  even 
to  these  remote  regions. 

So  it  proved. 

Under  cover  of  night  a  Wisconsin  Indian  entered  the  village  and 
in  a  secret  council  of  the  chiefs  poisoned  their  good  will  by  declaring 
that  the  strangers  enjoying  their  hospitality  were  agents  come  to  be- 
tray them  to  their  dreaded  foes — the  Iroquois.  He  then  returned  to 
his  Wisconsin  wilderness  as  silently  as  he  had  come. 

When  La  Salle  and  Tonty  sought  to  enlist  the  Illinois  chiefs  in 
their  Mississippi  exploration,  the  Indians  responded  by  describing, 
with  the  picturesque  exaggeration  appertaining  to  their  phraseology, 
the  terrible  dangers  that  would  have  to  be  encountered.  Alarmed  by 
these  tales,  the  insubordination  of  the  miserable  crew  accompanying 
La  Salle  and  Tonty  came  to  the  surface.  An  attempt  was  made  to 
poison  La  Salle.  Some  of  the  men  deserted,  and  their  departure  re- 
doubled the  suspicions  of  the  Illinois  that  treachery  was  meditated. 

Amid  such  discouragements  a  fort  was  built,  and  the  construction 
begun  of  a  vessel  designed  for  sailing  down  the  Mississippi.  Yield- 
ing to  an  impulse  of  despondency  unusual  in  this  man  of  unbending 
will.  La  Salle  called  the  fort  Crevecoeur — Broken  Heart. 

Early  in  March  La  Salle's  impatience  concerning  the  long  ex- 
pected tidings  of  his  vessel  prompted  him  to  the  sudden  resolution  to 
go  back  to  Ft.  Frontenac.  Two  days  before  he  had  sent  Father  Hen- 
nepin and  two  companions  down  the  Illinois  with  instructions  to  ex- 
plore the  upper  Mississippi.  He  departed  on  his  own  perilous  trip  of 
1,200  miles  overland  with  a  faithful  Indian  hunter  and  three  French- 
men.    He  left  Tonty  in  command  of  the  fort. 

Tonty  had  but  eighteen  men,  including  two  Recollet  fathers,  Gab- 


HENRY  DE  TOATY.  19 

riel  de  la  Ribourde  and  Zenobe  ]\Icmbre.  The  latter  later  became 
the  historian  of  the  party. 

Shortly  after  La  Salle's  departure  messengers  arrived  from  Ft. 
Miamis.  They  told  Tonty  that  La  Salle  had  been  there  and  had  dis- 
patched them  hither  to  tell  him  to  erect  a  fort  on  a  commanding 
eminence  facing  the  Illinois  river  some  distance  further  up.  While 
Tonty,  with  four  men,  was  making  a  preliminary  survey  of  this  place, 
the  messengers  from  the  Miamis  completed  the  defection  of  the 
men  at  Crevecoeur  by  telling  them  that  La  Salle's  ambitious  projects 
had  crumbled;  that  the  Grififon  had  foundered  in  a  gale;  that  his 
effects  at  Frontenac  had  been  seized  by  the  Montreal  creditors  and 
that  there  remained  no  hope  of  recompense  from  him  for  services  that 
had  remained  unpaid  since  the  beginning  of  the  disastrous  trip.  The 
men  seized  the  opportunity  afforded  by  Tonty's  absence.  They  pil- 
laged the  fort  and  wantonly  destroyed  what  they  could  not  carry 
away.  On  a  plank  of  the  unfinished  vessel  one  of  the  deserters  scrawled 
this  message  with  charcoal:  "Nous  sommes  tous  sauvages."  ("We 
are  all  savages.") 

The  Recollect  fathers,  the  Sieur  de  Boisrondet,  and  three  other 
men,  the  remnant  of  the  party,  hastened  to  Tonty  to  apprise  him  of 
the  serious  events  occurring  in  his  absence.  On  the  way  two  of  these 
men  also  deserted,  after  destroying  the  firearms  of  the  Sieur  de 
Boisrondet  and  the  only  other  man  who  proved  loyal.  In  this  extrem- 
ity Tonty  at  once  dispatched  the  four  men  who  had  been  with  him 
in  quest  of  the  Sieur  de  La  Salle  with  an  account  of  the  unfortunate 
sacking  of  the  fort.  With  his  four  remaining  companions,  he  resigned 
himself  to  the  dreary  prospect  of  awaiting  the  return  of  their  chief 
with  re-enforcements.  To  maintain  Fort  Crevecoeur  or  to  fortify  the 
rock  designated  by  La  Salle  as  a  site  for  a  fort  was  out  of  the  ques- 
tion. The  two  Recollects  thereupon  became  domiciled  in  the  Indian 
community  in  an  earnest  endeavor  at  conversion  of  the  savages  and 
the  acquirement  of  their  language.  Tonty  and  the  other  two  men 
took  up  their  habitation  in  a  cabin  near  the  Indians. 


20  HENBY  DE  TONTY. 


.VI. 


RAID    OF   THE   IROQUOIS. 

So  the  summer  wore  away  in  impatient  inactivity.  But  for  the  de- 
pendence placed  upon  him  by  La  Salle  to  hold  in  close  alliance  the 
tribes  of  the  Illinois  country,  (a  most  important  factor  in  his  plans) 
Tonty  would  have  been  tempted  to  retrace  his  steps  out  of  this  region 
of  prairie  and  wood,  delightful  as  it  was  after  the  melting  of  the 
snows  had  been  succeeded  by  the  swelling  of  buds  and  deepening 
verdure  of  the  fertile  prairie  lands. 

Tonty  had  succeeded  in  winning  the  friendship  of  the  chiefs  and 
in  allaying  suspicions  aroused  by  the  Mascoutin  Indian  from  Wiscon- 
sin in  their  early  coming,  but  untoward  events  again  aroused  them. 
In  mid-September,  while  most  of  the  young  warriors  were  absent 
on  a  hunt,  there  came  breathless  into  camp  an  Indian  runner  with 
the  news  that  the  dreaded  Iroquois  were  on  the  war-path;  that  with 
them  was  La  Salle  and  that  they  were  then  but  a  day's  march  away. 

It  was  a  critical  moment  for  Tonty.  Surrounded  by  the  yelling 
braves,  who  were  almost  in  a  frenzy  between  fear  of  the  fierce  Iroquois 
and  eagerness  for  revenge  upon  the  supposed  treacherous  confeder- 
ate in  their  midst,  the  life  of  Tonty  seemed  forfeit  to  their  fury.  His 
vehement  denials  of  the  accusation  of  treachery  had  less  effect  than 
his  expressed  willingness  to  lead  them  against  the  Iroquois — to  fight 
if  need  be,  to  act  as  a  messenger  with  peace  proposals,  if  possible. 

But  the  Illinois  lacked  the  bravery  that  characterized  their  foes 
from  the  East,  and  but  for  Tonty's  inspiring  counsel  they  would 
doubtless  have  sought  safety  in  flight,  as  they  had  done  before.  The 
Iroquois,  who  had  expected  to  surprise  the  Illinois,  were  greatly  cha- 
grined to  find  that  their  plans  had  miscarried,  and  no  less  so  to  ob- 
serve the  unwonted  courage  of  the  Illinois  in  coming  to  meet  them. 
Seeing  their  hesitation  and  likewise  noting  the  greater  strength  of  the 
opposing  force,  Tonty  concluded  that  he  would  attempt  to  bring 
about  peace.  Bearing  a  necklace  in  his  hand  as  an  offering,  he  ap- 
proached tmarmed  the  hostile  columns,  accompanied  by  the  Recollect 
fathers  and  the  Sieur  de  Boisrondet.  As  the  Iroquois  greeted  their 
advance  with  musket  shots,  Tonty  sent  back  all  his  companions  and 
continued  alone  on  his  mission. 

He  received  no   friendly  greeting. 


HENRY  DE  TONTY.  21 

Immediately  surrounded  by  the  young  braves,  whom  the  older 
chiefs  could  not  restrain,  Tonty  received  a  knife  thrust  over  the 
heart.  The  blade  glanced  off  a  rib,  or  his  career  would  have  ended 
here.  An  Indian  contemptuously  seized  the  necklace  he  had  carried 
and  threw  it  on  the  ground.  Another  grasped  Tonty's  hair  and  was 
about  to  add  that  trophy  to  his  belt  when  the  older  chiefs  interfered. 
An  angry  altercation  ensued.  Some  wanted  to  make  a  living  torch 
of  Tonty;  others  wanted  to  set  him  at  liberty,  so  as  not  to  engage 
the  French  in  their  battle  with  the  Illinois.  Though  suffering  from 
•  his  wound  and  surrounded  by  captors  thirsting  for  his  blood,  Tonty 
assumed  a  bold  attitude.  He  told  the  assembled  braves  that  the  Illi- 
nois warriors  numbered  1,200  fighting  men;  that  with  them  were  60 
Frenchmen  who  would  aid  them  in  the  fight;  that  the  Iroquois,  in 
making  war  upon  the  Illinois,  were  fighting  the  children  of  the  king 
of  France,  and  would  incur  his  displeasure.  He  counseled  them  to 
peace. 

The  crafty  Iroquois,  who  were  masters  of  the  art  of  forest  di- 
plomacy, as  they  were  of  savage  warfare,  pretending  acquiescence,  en- 
gaged Tonty  to  carry  proposals  of  peace.  Bleeding  from  his  wound 
and  weakened  by  the  loss  of  blood,  Tonty  undertook  this  mission. 

In  the  meantime  there  had  been  some  harmless  skirmishing. 
When  Tonty  had  been  stabbed,  an  Indian  brave  had  seized  the  Ital- 
ian's hat  and  poising  it  upon  the  muzzle  of  his  gun  had  waved  it  ex- 
ultingly  in  the  sight  of  the  Illinois.  Supposing  Tonty  to  have  been 
killed,  the  French  fathers  were  overcome  with  joy  when  they  saw 
Tonty  coming  towards  them.  He  staggered  into  their  welcoming 
arms,  and  they  gave  him  such  attention  as  their  skill  would  allow. 

The  proposals  of  peace  delighted  the  Illinois,  who  were  on  the 
verge  of  flight  when  Tonty  came  back  to  them.  Many  of  them  had 
already  departed  with  the  squaws  and  children  to  a  place  of  refuge 
on  an  island  near  the  mouth  of  the  river.  They  told  Tonty  they 
would  gladly  make  a  peace.  Tonty  therefore  returned  to  the  Iroquois 
to  further  negotiate  the  terms.  A  young  Illinois  Indian,  who  had 
been  sent  as  a  hostage,  nearly  upset  his  plans  by  telling  the  Iroquois 
chieftains  that  his  tribe  was  very  glad  to  make  the  peace;  that  most 
of  the  men  were  away  on  a  hunt;  that  if  the  Iroquois  really  wished  fof 
peace  the  Illinois  were  ready  to  give  up  the  beaver  skins  they  had 
stored  and  some  slaves  they  had. 

"I  had  much  difficulty  in  getting  out  of  the  scrape,"  quaintly  re- 
marks Tonty  in  his  memoir.  "The  Iroquois  called  me  to  them  and 
loaded  me  with  reproaches;  they  told  me  that  I  was  a  liar  to  have 
said  that  the  Illinois  had  1.200  warriors,  besides  the  allies  who  had 
given  them  assistance.  Where  were  the  60  Frenchmen  who  I  ha(i 
told  them  had  been  left  at  the  village?" 

Meantime  the  Illinois  had  burned  the  huts  of  their  village  and 
retreated  to  their  island  refuge.     The  Iroquois  occupied  the  site  and 


22  HENRY  DE  TONTY. 

built  a  fort.  Tonty  and  his  companions  remained  in  their  cabin  near 
by.  The  crafty  Iroquois,  though  pretending  peace,  began  building 
elm-bark  canoes.  Observing  this  Tonty  sent  word  to  the  Illinois  that 
their  foes  meant  to  follow  them  to  their  island;  he  counseled  them  to 
retire  to  some  distant  nation  while  they  yet  had  time. 

On  the  eighth  day  after  the  arrival  of  the  Iroquois,  their  chiefs 
called  Tonty  and  Father  Z.enoble  to  council.  Upon  conclusion  of  the 
usual  ceremonials,  six  packets  of  beaver  skins  were  set  before  Tonty. 
Addressing  him  in  the  figurative  speech  which  none  knew  how  to  em- 
ploy to  better  advantage  than  the  orators  of  the  Five  Nations,  one 
of  the  chiefs  explained  their  meaning: 

The  first  two  packets  were  "to  inform  M.  de  Frontenac  that 
they  would  not  eat  his  children  and  that  he  should  not  be  angry  at 
what  they  had  done. 

The  third  was  a  plaster  for  Tonty's  wound. 

The  fourth  was  some  oil  to  rub  on  his  and  Father  Zenoble's 
limbs,  on  account  of  the  long  journeys  they  had  taken. 

The  fifth  that  the  sun  was  bright. 

The  sixth  that  the  Frenchmen  should  profit  by  it  and  depart  the 
next  day  for  the  French  settlements. 

Tonty  received  this  polite  invitation  to  depart  with  ill-concealed 
impatience.  To  leave  the  Iroquois  to  carry  out  their  hostile  intentions 
towards  the  Illinois  meant  the  serious  marring  of  the  plan  to  es- 
tablish a  fortified  chain  of  communication  from  Frontenac  to  the 
mouth  of  the  great  river,  with  the  Indians  of  the  country  enroute  as 
allies  to  maintain  "French  supremacy.  Undaunted  by  his  apparent 
helplessness,  he  boldly  faced  the  chiefs  and  inquired  when  they,  too, 
would  go  away. 

"We  will  eat  some  of  the  Illinois  first,"  said  one  of  them,  whose 
diplomacy  evaporated  before  the  heat  of  his  fierce  eagerness  for  battle. 

Upon  this  Tonty  rose  from  his  place  in  the  council  ring. 

"Since  you  desire  to  eat  the  children  of  the  Governor,"  he  said 
sternly,  "I  will  have  none  of  your  presents,"  and  with  a  vigorous 
kick  he  sent  the  packets  of  beaver  skins  tumbling  in  all  directions. 

In  a  rage  at  this  contemptuous  treatment,  the  chiefs  drove  Tonty 
f»om  the  council.  In  their  cabin  near  the  Indian  fort,  the  Frenchmen 
barricaded  themselves,  determined  to  sell  their  lives  as  dearly  as  pos- 
sible, for  none  of  them  expected  to  live  out  the  night.  Here  they  re- 
mained till  daybreak,  when,  realizing  the  uselessness  of  further  en- 
dangering the  lives  of  himself  and  companions,  Tonty  directed  the 
party  to  a  canoe  and  they  hastily  departed — which  they  were  en- 
abled to  do  unmolested.  The  sufferings  which  they  underwent  and  the 
fortitude  they  displayed  in  their  Journey  in  search  of  relief  at  Green 
Bay  scarcely  finds  a  parallel  in  the  history  of  the  Northwest. 


Historic  Places  in  Tonty's  Career. 

Niagara— -The   Shipyard    of  the  Griffon,' as 
Cyrus  K  Remington  terms  the  spot  where 

Tonty  built  the  pioneer  vessel. 
Ft.  Miarais  —  Base  rf  operations  for  La  Salle 

and  Tonty's  two  Mississippi  expeditions. 
Washington   Island. —  The  Island   in   Green 

Bay   whence  thu  Griffon    sailed  on  her 

disastrous  voyage. 
Ft    Crevecoeur. — The   Fort   of    the   Broken 

Heart. 
Starved  Rock. — Site  of  Tonty's   stronghold, 

the  For*  of  St.  Louis  on  the  Illinois. 
Michihraackinac. — French  Post,  where  Ton* 

ty  and  La  Salle  met  after  the  great  Iro- 
quois raid. 
Old  Biloxi— Where  Tonty  lies  buried. 


HENRY  DE  TON  TV.  23 


VII. 


DEATH  OF  FATHER  GABRIEL. 


In  their  leaky  canoe,  Tonty  and  his  companions  toiled  for  five 
hours  up  the  stream,  and  were  finally  compelled  to  land  to  repair 
their  frail  craft.  Here  the  career  of  aged  Father  Gabriel  de  la  Ribourde 
<:ame  to  a  tragic  close.  A  leafy  arbor  i,ooo  paces  away  invited  him  to 
its  friendly  shelter  for  meditation  and  prayer. 

He  never  returned. 

Alarmed  at  his  prolonged  absence,  Tonty  went  to  look  for  him. 
Instead  of  the  good  father,  he  found  the  recent  trail  of  many  Indians, 
-whether  of  pursuing  Iroquois  or  others  it  was  impossible  to  tell. 
Vainly  he  fired  his  musket.  In  vain  he  shouted  the  name  of  Father 
Gabriel;  there  was  no  answering  voice  save  reverberating  echo.  With 
sad  hearts  the  men  crossed  the  river  to  spend  the  night.  They  built 
a  huge  fire  as  a  beacon,  and  kept  guard  for  signs  of  the  father's  com- 
ing. At  midnight  the  forms  of  several  men  were  descried  on  the  oppo- 
site shore,  and  gave  confirmation  to  their  fears. 

With  daybreak  they  recrossed  to  reconnoitre.  They  vainly 
searched  for  Father  Gabriel  till  long  past  noon,  despite  the  danger 
they  incurred  by  deferring  their  departure.  At  last  reluctantly  thej'' 
resumed  their  way,  keeping  a  sharp  lookout  along  the  bank. 

Years  afterwards  the  breviary  of  Father  Gabriel  was  found  among 
the  Kickapoo  Indians  in  Wisconsin,  and  the  mystery  of  his  fate  be- 
came known.  While  absorbed  in  prayer,  he  had  been  discovered  by 
a  wandering  band  of  these  Indians,  and  they  cruelly  crushed  in  his 
skull  with  a  club,  scalped  him,  and  threw  his  body  into  a  deep  hole. 
It  was  perhaps  a  blessing  in  disguise  that  Father  Gabriel's  sufferings 
ended  at  the  beginning  of  this  journey,  for  this  man  of  70  years  could 
never  have  withstood  the  terrible  privations  and  fatigues  to  which  his 
companions  were  about  to  be  subjected.^ 


6.  According  to  Hennepin,  as  quoted  by  Shea,  Father  Gabriel  Ribourde  was  the 
last  scion  of  a  noble  Burgundian  house,  who  not  only  renounced  his  inheritance  and 
the  world  to  enroll  himself  among  the  lowly  children  of  St.  Francis,  but  even  when 
advanced  in  life  and  honored  with  the  dignities  of  his  order,  sought  the  new  and  toll- 
-some  mission  of  Canada.  Consulting  his  zeal,  rather  than  his  age,  he  embarked  with 
.La  Salle.     He  was  70  years  old  when  killed. 


24  HENRY  DE  TONTY. 

By  mischance  Tonty  determined  to  seek  succor  at  Green  Bay 
among  the  friendly  Pottawattamies,  instead  of  going  by  the  longer 
route  along  the  eastern  shore  of  Lake  Michigan  to  Michilimackinac 
He  thus  missed  La  Salle,  who  with  re-enforcements  was  hurrying 
along  that  route  by  way  of  Ft.  Miamis  to  relieve  Tonty.  La  Salle 
had  reached  Frontenac  only  to  learn  of  further  misfortunes.  The 
Griffon  had  never  been  heard  of  after  leaving  what  is  known  as  Wash- 
ington Island;  a  vessel  from  France  sent  to  him  with  supplies  had 
been  wrecked  in  the  St.  Lawrence.  His  hopes  seemed  in  ruins.  To  fill. 
his  cup  of  bitterness  to  overflowing  Tonty's  messengers  reached  him 
with  the  story  of  the  dismantling  of  Ft.  Crevecoeur  and  the  intention 
of  the  deserters  to  seek  and  to  assassinate  La  Salle.  Ambuscading 
the  traitors,  he  killed  two  of  them  and  took  the  others  prisoners. 
Despite  his  fallen  fortunes  he  managed  to  organize  another  com- 
pany and  hurried  to  the  help  of  Tonty,  whose  position  he  knew  to 
be  critical  on  account  of  the  threatened  Iroquois  invasion.  He  came 
to  the  rock  whereon  he  had  ordered  a  fort  built;  he  reached  the  de- 
serted Ft.  Crevecoeur,  where  the  message  of  the  deserters  scribbled  on 
the  side  of  the  half-finished  boat  greeted  him  as  if  in  derision  of  his 
hopes.  In  the  deserted  village  of  the  Illinois  he  came  upon  the  un- 
buried  bodies  of  the  dead,  disinterred  by  the  vandal  Iroquois,  whose 
fury  found  full  vent  after  Tonty's  restraining  presence  had  been  re- 
moved. They  had  pursued  the  Illinois  as  Tonty  had  foretold,  and 
with  revolting  atrocity  had  not  only  despoiled  the  graves  of  the  dead, 
but  had  inflicted  upon  several  hundred  women  and  children  the  bar- 
barities and  tortures  which  Indian  warfare  demanded  as  the  fitting 
sequel  of  victory.  Among  the  dead  La  Salle  searched  with  heavy 
heart  for  the  body  of  his  loyal  friend,  and  then  returned  to  his  fort 
on  the  Miamis.    There  he  spent  the  winter. 


HENRY  DE  TONTY.  2& 


VIII. 


FLIGHT   TO   GREEN    BAY. 


While  La  Salle  was  thus  engaged,  Tonty  and  his  companions 
were  painfully  toiling  along  the  western  shore  of  Lake  Michigan. 
In  their  crazy  craft  they  coasted  for  days,  living  on  nuts,  roots  and 
wild  garlic  which  they  dug  from  under  the  frozen  snow.  It  grew 
bitterly  cold,  their  footgear  gave  out  and  they  improvised  moccasins 
by  cutting  the  beaver  mantle  of  poor  Father  Gabriel  into  strips  and 
tieing  them  on  with  thongs  made  of  the  same  material.  For  fifteen 
days  they  subsisted  on  the  scanty  fare  they  dug  out  of  the  frozen 
ground,  when  the  providential  killing  of  a  stag  gave  them  renewed 
courage  and  sustenance.  The  Sieur  de  Boisrondet  became  lost  in  the 
forest  and  for  ten  days  was  looked  upon  as  forever  lost  by  his  dispir- 
ited companions.  When  he  rejoined  them  he  told  how  he  had  lived 
alone  in  the  woods,  armed  with  a  musket,  but  unprovided  with  flint 
and  bullets.  In  his  extremity  he  had  melted  a  pewter  dish  into  pellets 
and  with  the  touch  of  a  live  coal  successfully  discharged  his  musket 
at  a  flock  of  wild  turkeys.  Thus  he  had  kept  alive  his  emaciated  frame 
till  he  found  his  companions. 

On  St.  Martin's  day  (Nov.  ii)  the  eyes  of  the  weary  travelers 
were  gladdened  by  the  sight  of  a  Pottawattamie  village.  But  new 
disappointments  awaited  them.  The  village  was  deserted.  The  fam- 
ished men  eagerly  gathered  together  a  few  handfuls  of  scattered  corn 
and  a  few  frozen  gourds.  While  searching  for  more,  a  belated  member 
of  the  party  came  up  and  began  devouring  the  provisions,  which  he 
supposed  had  been  left  there  for  him.  When  the  gleaners  returned 
they  found  that  he  had  not  spared  the  corn  and  the  gourds. 

"We  had  much  pleasure  in  seeing  him  again,"  says  Tonty,  "but 
little  to  see  our  provisions  partly  consumed." 

They  had  formed  the  reckless  determination  to  make  an  attempt 
to  reach  Michilimackinac  in  a  canoe  as  a  last  hope,  when  they  came 
upon  another  Indian  trail.  It  led  to  another  village,  but  the  Indians 
had  departed,  leaving  the  slumbering  embers  of  a  fire.  This  was  about 
the  place  where  the  Sturgeon  Bay  canal  opens  into  Lake  Michigan. 
In  the  hope  of  coming  upon  the  Indians,  the  weary  men  made  a 
portage  to   Sturgeon  creek.     Failing  to  come  upon  the  savages,  they 


26  HENRY  DE  TONTY. 

determined  to   go   back  to   the   Indian  village  to   secure   at   least   the 
comfort  of  dying  by  a  fire. 

They  were  now  in  their  last  extremity.  Tonty  was  attacked  by  a 
fever  and  his  legs  were  swollen  terribly.  In  his  hunger  one  of  the 
men  had  made  a  meal  of  part  of  Father  Gabriel's  mantle  of  hide, 
and  suffered  so  excruciatingly  from  indigestion  as  to  be  unable  to 
proceed.  The  creek  had  frozen  so  as  to  render  navigation  by  canoe  im- 
possible. The  last  hope  seemed  to  be  gone,  when  two  Indians  chanced 
that  way  and  brought  the  long-sought  relief  to  the  famishing  men. 
Among  the  well-disposed  Pottawattamies,  in  what  is  now  the  penin- 
sula of  Door  County,  Wis.,  Tonty  spent  the  winter  and  recuperated 
from  the  hardships  of  his  terrible  journey.  In  the  spring  he  crossed 
to  Michilimackinac.  To  their  mutual  joy,  Tonty  and  La  Salle  there 
met  and  told  each  other  what  adventures  had  befallen  each,  since 
their  parting-  at   Ft.   Crevecoeur,   twelve  months  before. 


HENRY  DE  TOyTY.  27 


IX. 


AT    THE    MOUTH    OF   THE    MISSISSIPPI. 


Rejoiced  to  find  his  loyal  lieutenant  ready  to  second  his  efforts, 
La  Salle  energetically  prepared  for  another  expedition  to  explore  the 
lower  Mississippi.  While  he  was  collecting  the  sinews  of  war,  the  en- 
ergetic Tonty  repaired  in  advance  to  the  Illinois  country.  In  October 
(1681)  La  Salle  joined  him.  Tonty  had  prepared  sledges  with  which 
to  cross  the  frozen  rivers,  and  these  conveyances  greatly  facilitated 
their  journey.  This  time  their  route  to  the  Illinois  was  by  way  of  the 
Chicagou  river.  By  the  end  of  January  (1682)  they  had  reached  the 
mouth  of  the  Illinois  river.  For  the  first  time  Henry  de  Tonty  saw 
the  mighty  Mississippi.  For  twenty  years  thereafter  Tonty  succeeded 
in  maintaining  French  supremacy  on  this  great  stream.  When  the 
Wisconsin  route  to  the  river  was  practically  closed  to  the  French  by 
the  Foxes,  the  southern  portage  routes  remained  open  through  the 
exertions  of  Tonty. 

The  voyage  down  the  Mississippi  lasted  three  months.  Tonty  was 
the  first  white  man  to  visit  the  Taensa  Indians,  a  nation  that  dwelt  in 
adobe  huts,  covered  with  cane  mats.  These  Indians  wore  clothing 
woven  from  the  bark  of  the  mulberry  tree;  they  worshiped  the  sun  and 
had  a  large  temple  made  of  mud,  wherein  a  fire  was  kept  perpetually 
burning  in  adoration  of  their  god.  The  ordinarily  laconic  Tonty  has 
left  a  fairly  full  description  of  the  curious  customs  which  he  noted 
among  these  Indians. 

After  numerous  adventures,  the  party  came  to  the  deltas  of  the 
great  river.  La  Salle  went  down  one  channel,  Tonty's  canoe  another 
and  a  third  party  proceeded  along  the  remaining  channel.  Soon  the 
broad  gulf  of  Mexico  opened  to  their  gaze,  and  the  reunited  parties 
prepared  to  encamp.  The  next  day  the  solemn  ceremony  of  taking 
possession  in  the  name  of  the  king  of  France  was  performed.  Upon  a 
column  that  v/as  reared  in  this  lonely  spot  were  af^xed  the  arms  of 
France  suitably  inscribed.  The  Franciscan  priest  led  the  chant  of  the 
Te  Deum  and  Exaudiat,  the  muskets  rang  out  in  unison,  the  men 
shouted  "Vive  le  Roi"  in  hoarse  accord,  and  the  Indian  followers — 
scarce  knowing  why — raised  their  voices  in  savage  acclaim.  Then  a 
cross  was  erected  and  a  notary  drew  up  an  account,  which  was  signed 


28  HENRY  DE  TONTY. 

by  La  Salle,  Tonty  and  eleven  others.  Thus  was  performed  the  cere- 
mony whereby  the  king  of  France  added  to  his  goodly  domain  in  the 
new  world  that  vast  region  that  came  to  be  known  as  Louisiana,  whose 
boundaries  were  later  claimed  to  be  the  Rocky  mountains  and  the 
Appalachian  system  on  the  west  and  east,  the  frozen  sources  of  the 
Mississippi  on  the  north  and  from  Spanish  Florida  to  Mexico  on  the 
south.  "This  stretch  ran  from  corn  to  oranges;  from  sycamore  to 
palmettos.  The  flood  that  coursed  this  enormous  basin  was  one  of 
the  world's  largest,  draining  an  area  of  more  than  twelve  hundred  and 
fifty  thousand  square  miles,  sending  twenty  million  of  millions  of  cu- 
bic feet  of  water  annually  into  the  sea."J 

This  ceremony  of  tremendous  future  import  occurred  April  pth, 
1682.  Without  loss  of  time,  for  food  had  become  exhausted,  the  party 
prepared  to  return.  They  defeated  an  attacking  band  of  Indians  after 
killing  ten  of  these  swamp  savages,  and  finally  reached  a  friendly  tribe, 
who  gave  them  shelter.  * 

La  Salle  was  taken  seriously  sick,  and  he  despatched  Tonty  to 
bear  the  news  of  their  discovery  to  Count  Frontenac.  Thus  Tonty 
was  the  first  to  give  the  intelligence  that  the  waters  of  the  Mississippi 
poured  their  vast  volume  into  the  gulf  of  Mexico. 

On  the  way  up  the  river,  Tonty  was  waylaid  by  wandering  Indi- 
ans, who  mistook  him  for  an  Iroquois  and  decided  to  burn  him.  But 
for  the  strenuous  interposition  of  the  Illinois  Indians  who  accompa- 
nied him,  Tonty  would  have  been  burned  at  the  stake.  He  reached 
Michilimackinac  in  July,  and  three  months  later  La  Salle  joined  him. 

Tonty  at  once  repaired  to  the  Illinois  river  to  begin  the  construc- 
tion of  a  fort.  Here  La  Salle  followed,  and  they  completed  the  historic 
Ft.  St.  Louis  on  the  massive  clifif  that  to-day  is  known  as  Starved 
Rock.s 


7.  The  language  of  La  Salle  in  taking  possession,  was  somewhat  obscure.  Doubt- 
less, says  Sparks,  his  purpose  wa-s  to  take  possession  of  the  whole  territory  watered  by 
the  Mississippi  and  its  tributaries  on  both  sides. 

8.  A  traditional  interest  attaches  to  this  rock,  says  Parkman.  A  party  of  Illinois, 
assailed  by  the  Pottawattamies,  here  took  refuge  and  defied  attack.  At  length  they 
were  all  destroyed  by  starvation;  hence  the  name  of  "Starved  Rock." 


Site  of  Tonty's  Fort  at  Starved  Rock. 
(Near  the  town  of  Utica,  111.) 


HENRY  DE  TONTY.  29 


X. 


FORT  ST.  LOUIS  ON  THE  ROCK. 


Starved  Rock  rises  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet  from  the  edge  of 
the  water  and  is  a  sheer  precipice  on  three  sides.  Only  from  behind 
can  the  top  be  reached,  and  thence  with  difficulty.  The  place  is  a  nat- 
ural fortress.  Properly  provisioned,  a  handful  of  men  occupying  the 
level  acre  on  top  could  defy  the  siege  or  assault  of  an  army. 

The  fort  completed,  Tonty  went  among  the  Indians  of  the  sur- 
rounding country  to  seek  allies.  How  well  he  succeeded  in  his  mis- 
sion is  shown  by  the  fact  that  soon  the  valley  beneath  him  was  a  vast 
encampment  of  Illinois,  Miamis,  Shawanoes,  Weas  and  Piankishaws — 
four  thousand  warriors.  In  the  dozen  villages  of  bark  lodges  were 
housed  not  less  than  20,000  Indians,  counting  the  women  and  the  chil- 
dren. It  had  required  all  the  tact  and  diplomacy  of  Tonty  to  bring 
about  this  confederation  of  hitherto  mutually  unfriendly  tribes.  Its 
continuance  meant  not  only  the  supremacy  of  the  French  on  the  Mis- 
sissippi, but  the  control  of  the  whole  western  fur  trade,  which  the  Iro- 
quois by  conquest  and  plunder  had  been  seeking  to  divert  to  the 
Dutch  and  English  on  the  eastern  coast. 

Intent  upon  planting  a  colony  at  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi  to 
supplement  Tonty's  at  Ft.  St.  Louis,  on  the  Rock,  La  Salle  decided 
to  sail  for  France  to  secure  more  aid.  He  named  his  faithful  friend 
as  governor  of  the  fort,  and  bade  him  farewell. 

Tonty  never  saw  him  again. 

La  Salle  had  scarcely  gone  beyond  recall  when  there  came  to  the 
Rock  the  Chevalier  de  Baugis  to  displace  Tonty  as  commandant,  by 
order  of  the  governor  at  Montreal.  Count  Frontenac  had  been  recalled 
to  France  and  the  enemies  of  La  Salle  were  triumphant  in  Montreal. 
Tonty  surrendered  the  fort,  but  remained  there;  and  before  the  corn 
grew  again  de  Baugis  was  glad  indeed  to  ask  Tonty  to  share  the  com- 
mand, for  in  March  the  Iroquois  came.  For  six  days  the  fierce  In- 
dians from  the  East  besieged  the  Rock,  eager  to  destroy  the  garrison. 
For  once  they  met  a  foe  whose  valor  and  whose  cunning  exceeded 
their  own.  Tonty  repulsed  them  with  great  loss  and  they  retired  into 
their  own  country. 

Meanwhile,  at  the  court  of  France,  La  Salle  had  found  renewed 
royal  favor,  one  evidence  of  which  was  that  his  confiscated  fort  of  St. 


30  HENRY  DE  TONTY. 

Louis  on  the  Illinois  was  restored  to  him.  He  sent  the  joyful  news  to 
Tonty,  again  placing  him  in  command,  and  advising  him  that  the  ex- 
pedition for  the  Mississippi  mouth  would  soon  be  under  way. 

The  fate  of  La  Salle's  disastrous  quest  for  the  mouth  of  the  great 
river  has  often  been  told.  First  he  quarreled  with  the  naval  com- 
mander, Beaujeu,  who  chafed  because  he  had  to  serve  under  La 
Salle.  The  old  captain  seems  to  have  been  especially  offended  because 
La  Salle  expressly  stipulated  that  in  case  ought  happened  to  himself, 
Tonty  should  be  sent  for  to  comm.and  the  expedition.  When  the 
ships  passed  by  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi  and  La  Salle's  vessel 
was  wrecked  in  Matagorda  Bay,  Beaujeu  set  sail  and  abandoned  La 
Salle  on  this  inhospitable  shore.  On  the  Trinity  river.  La  Salle  was 
assassinated  by  some  of  his  own  men. 

All  unconscious  of  the  fate  of  his  friend,  Tonty  organized  a  party 
to  descend  the  Mississippi  and  to  meet  La  Salle.  He  had  indeed  heard 
that  La  Salle  had  landed,  for  in  the  autumn  of  1685  Tonty  journeyed 
from  his  eyrie  on  the  Rock  to  Michilimackinac  and  there  learned  in 
a  letter  from  the  new  governor  that  news  had  been  received  in  France, 
upon  the  return  of  Beaujeu,  that  La  Salle's  expedition  had  safely 
landed.  He  returned  on  foot  to  the  Rock,  and  in  February  (1686)  left 
there  with  eleven  Indians  and  twice  that  number  of  Frenchmen  to 
meet  his  friend. 

But  no  trace  of  his  friend  did  the  loyal  Tonty  find,  save  the  col- 
umn erected  at  the  delta  four  years  before — now  fallen  and  half-sub- 
merged in  the  ooze  of  this  swampy  region.  Fie  sent  canoes  to  coast 
along  the  shore  both  east  and  west,  but  the  crews  returned  without 
tidings.  In  his  anxiety  to  reach  La  Salle,  he  proposed  to  his  men  to 
cruise  along  the  coast  till  they  should  come  to  Manhatte,  but  the  un- 
known dangers  appalled  the  men  and  they  refused  to  accompany  him. 
Disconsolately,  Tonty  prepared  to  return  to  Ft.  St.  Louis.  The  fallen 
column  was  again  erected,  out  of  reach  of  the  hungry  waters  of  the 
gulf,  and  Tonty  wrote  a  letter  for  La  Salle,  which  he  entrusted  to  the 
keeping  of  a  chief  of  the  Bayagoulas. 

The  tenor  of  this  letter  is  pathetic  in  the  sincerity  of  the  concern 
which  the  writer  expresses  for  the  welfare  of  La  Salle  and  the  assur- 
ances he  gives  that  he  would  sacrifice  everything  to  advance  the  inter- 
ests of  his  friend.  This  letter,  fourteen  years  later,  was  given  by  the 
Bayogoula  chief  to  Pierre  d'Iberville,  and  convinced  that  explorer  that 
he  had  found  the  Mississippi,  after  Hennepin's  misleading  and  spuri- 
ous narration  had  led  him  to  doubt  that  he  was  upon  that  river. ^ 


9.  Hennepiii  never  descended  the  Mississippi,  but  after  La  Salle's  death  claimed 
to  have  done  so  and  wrote  an  account  of  his  alleged  trip.  It  was  based  on  Le  Clercq"s 
narrative,  which  had  been  suppressed,  but  of  which  Hennepin  had  secured  a  copy.  It. 
was  this  fable  of  Hennepin's  and  the  plagiarized  and  garbled  version  of  Tonty's  me- 
moirs  which  Iberville  had  taken  along  as  guides  to  give  him  an  idea  of  the  Mississippi 
country.     Of  course  he  failed  to  reconcile  the  descriptions  with  the  actual  facts. 


HENRY  DE  TONTY.  31 

At  the  Arkansas  river,  where  on  the  previous  voyage  La  Salle  had 
conferred  a  seigneury  upon  the  devoted  Tonty,  several  of  the  men  re- 
quested to  be  allowed  to  form  a  settlement  and  Tonty  gave  his  con- 
sent. 

Before  Tonty's  departure  in  search  of  La  Salle,  the  new  governor, 
Denonville,  had  sent  word  to  Tonty  that  his  aid  would  be  wanted  in 
a  contemplated  attack  on  the  Iroquois  in  their  own  country.  Upon  his 
return  from  the  fruitless  trip  down  the  Mississippi,  Tonty  raised  a 
force  of  Indians  and  coureur  de  bois  and  proceeded  to  make  the  thou- 
sand-mile journey  to  the  St.  Lawrence.  Before  starting  he  gave  his 
savages  a  dog-feast — a  ceremony  that  ends  with  the  devouring  of  a 
dog's  heart  raw,  and  which  seems  to  inspire  the  Indians  with  un- 
wonted courage.  At  the  Straits  (Detroit)  he  joined  his  cousin  Du 
Luth  and  another  party  under  Durantye.  Shortly  after  the  three  chief- 
tains made  an  important  capture,  in  intercepting  some  Englishmen 
who  were  bound  for  the  western  country  to  set  the  Indians  on  the 
heels  of  the  French. 

Tonty's  part  in  the  campaign  against  the  Senecas  is  told  by  Den- 
onville in  his  official  dispatches.  He  praises  Tonty  highly.^"  While 
advancing  into  the  Indian  country,  the  vanguard  was  ambuscaded  by 
the  crafty  Senecas.  Tonty  was  at  the  head  of  this  ambushed  force, 
and  his  knowledge  of  Indian  warfare  enabled  him  to  meet  the  foe  in 
such  unexpected  manner  as  to  turn  an  anticipated  rout  of  his  men  into 
a  pursuit  of  the  discomfited  enemy. ^^  The  Seneca  villages  were  laid 
waste,  their  ripening  crops  were  leveled  to  the  ground,  and  then  for 
some  unknown  reason  Denonville  ceased  his  pursuit.  | 

Tonty  returned  to  the  Rock,  and  there  found  Abbe  Cavelier,  La 
Salle's  brother,  and  a  number  of  companions  who  had  found  their  way 
out  of  the  Texas  wilderness  after  La  Salle's  assassination.  Instead  of 
telling  Tonty  what  had  happened  they  deceived  him  into  believing  that 
La  Salle  was  still  alive  and  well  in  Texas,  and  would  shortly  follow 
them  to  the  Illinois.  Delighted  to  hear  these  welcome  tidings,  the 
generous  Tonty  not  only  treated  the  wanderers  with  every  courtesy, 
but  loaned  the  lying  abbe  merchandise  to  the  value  of  4,000  livres  to 
enable  him  to  continue  his  journey  to  France.  The  abbe  and  his  com- 
panions departed  on  their  way,  rejoicing  at  the  successful  outcome  of 
their  deception. 


10.  Documentary  History  of  New  York,   vol. 

11.  Cf.     Tonty's  memoir,  Margry,  toI.  I. 


32  HENR Y  BE  TO N  TY. 


XI. 


IN  THE  WILDERNESS  OP  THE  SOUTH. 


To  the  intense  indignation  of  Tonty,  shortly  after  he  learned  from 
one  of  the  men  who  arrived  from  his  post  on  the  Arkansas,  that  he 
had  been  grossly  deceived  and  that  his  generosity  had  been  expended 
upon  liars  and  ingrates.  The  priest,  who  later  justified  his  deception  of 
Tonty  on  the  ground  that  the  first  news  of  La  Salle's  assassination  was 
due  the  court  of  France,  had  not  hesitated  to  tell  the  story  to  the  men 
within  the  stockade  on  the  Arkansas,  when  the  haphazard  wanderings 
of  himself  and  companions  brought  their  weary  footsteps  to  that 
friendly  shelter. 

The  faithful  heart  of  Tonty  was  wrung  by  the  intelligence,  and  the 
distressing  situation  in  which  the  feeble  remnant  of  La  Salle's  party  at 
Matagorda  Bay  had  been  left  by  the  conspirators  appealed  to  his  sense 
of  chivalry.  He  determined  to  effect  their  rescue  if  possible,  unde- 
terred^by  the  tremendous  risks  he  ran  in  traversing  the  unknown  wil- 
derness intervening — a  distance  of  hundreds  of  miles  of  swamp,  forest 
and  brake.  Unconscious  that  the  little  colony  had  been  swept  into 
captivity  by  hostile  savages,  early  in  December  of  the  year  1688  a  canoe 
bore  him,  accompanied  by  live  Frenchmen  and  three  Indians,  down 
the  current  of  the  Illinois  for  his  third  expedition  down  the  Missis- 
sippi. It  was  not  till  the  last  of  March  that  they  found  themselves  on 
the  Red  River.  The  journey  had  been  so  arduous  that  all  but  one 
of  the  Frenchmen  and  one  of  the  Indians  refused  to  proceed.  Despite 
his  urgent  entreaties,  they  retraced  their  steps. 

With  his  two  remaining  followers  and  a  slave  Tonty  pushed  on. 
The  Frenchman  lost  himself  in  a  wood.  Tonty  found  him,  only  to 
learn  of  new  misfortunes,' for  in  crossing  a  stream  the  latter  had  al- 
lowed the  ammunition  bag  to  slip  off  into  the  water.  They  had  but 
a  trifling  quantity  of  powder  remaining,  and  were  thus  in  a  sorry 
plight.  Still  Tonty  would  not  give  up.  He  pushed  on  from  one  Indi- 
an village  to  another,  cementing  friendships  which  he  designed  to  use 
later  on  to  secure  a  confederation  of  tribes  for  an  attack  upon  the 
Spaniards  of  Mexico,  with  whom  the  French  were  now  at  war.  At 
last  he  reached  an  Indian  village  where  he  learned  that  Frenchmen 
had  not  long  before  had  their  abode.    The  demeanor  of  these  Indians 


HENRY  DE  TONTY.  33 

and  their  unsatisfactory  explanation  in  accounting  for  the  absence  of 
the  Frenchmen,  aroused  his  suspicions  that  the  Frenchmen  had  been 
murdered. 

"I  told  them,"  he  recounts  in  his  narrative,  "that  they  had  killed 
the  Frenchmen.  Directly  all  the  women  began  to  cry,  and  thus  I  saw 
that  what  I  had  said  was  true.  I  would  not,  therefore,  accept  the  cal- 
umet." 

Reluctantly  Tonty  concluded  to  return,  for  the  Indians  would  fur- 
nish him  no  more  guides  and  his  ammunition  had  become  exhausted. 
He  was  then  within  250  miles  of  the  place  where  the  ill-fated  colony 
had  been  planted,  and  within  three  days'  journey  of  the  spot  where  the 
unburied  bones  of  La  Salle  lay  bleaching  in  the  sun. 

The  return  journey  to  the  Mississippi  was  an  uninterrupted  series 
of  incredible  hardships,  lasting  from  the  beginning  of  May  till  July. 
The  rainy  season  came  on.  Night  and  day  the  heavens  opened  their 
floodgates,  till  the  whole  country  for  a  stretch  of  many  miles  was  in- 
undated. They  made  a  raft,  but  found  no  dry  land.  Once  they  joy- 
fully came  upon  a  band  of  savages. 

"We  called  to  them  in  vain,"  narrates  Tonty,  "they  ran  away,  and 
we  were  unable  to  come  up  with  them.  Two  of  their  dogs  came  to 
us,  which  with  two  of  our  own  we  embarked  the  next  day  on  our  raft. 
We  crossed  fifty  leagues  of  flooded  country.  The  water,  where  it  was 
least  deep,  reached  half-way  up  the  legs;  and  in  all  this  tract  we  found 
only  one  little  island  of  dry  land,  where  we  killed  a  bear  and  dried  its 
flesh.  It  would  be  difficult  to  give  an  idea  of  the  trouble  we  had  to  get 
out  of  this  miserable  country,  where  it  rained  night  and  day.  We  were 
obliged  to  sleep  on  the  trunks  of  two  great  trees  placed  together,  and 
to  make  our  fire  on  the  trees,  to  eat  our  dogs  and  to  carry  our  bag- 
gage across  large  tracts  covered  with  reeds.  In  short,  I  never  suffered 
so  much  in  my  life  as  in  this  journey  to  the  Mississippi,  which  we 
reached  on  the  nth  of  July." 

Finally  Tonty  reached  a  village  of  the  Coroas  and  was  hospitably 
received.  For  three  days  not  a  morsel  of  food  had  he  eaten.  The  sav- 
ages sympathized  with  his  sufferings  and  feasted  him  royally.  He  pur- 
sued his  way,  but  in  the  miasmatic  region  he  had  traversed  he  had  ab- 
sorbed the  germs  of  a  fever,  and  he  lingered  on  the  Arkansas  for  a 
fortnight  before  he  could  pursue  his  toilsome  way  back  to  the  Illinois. 
He  wearily  climbed  his  beloved  Rock  in  September,  1690. 

The  narrative  of  Tonty's  life,  which  was  sent  to  Paris  in  1693,  ends 
here.  Four  years  later  it  was  made  the  basis  of  a  spurious  work  by 
an  anonymous  writer,  whose  fertility  of  imagination  supplied  the  embel- 
lishments.    Tonty  repudiated  this  document. 

For  ten  years  after  this  last  trip  down  the  Mississippi  Tonty  re- 
mained at  the  Rock,  endeavoring  to  enlist  the  aid  of  the  French  court 
in  carrying  out  the  plan  left  uncompleted  by  La  Salle's  untimely 
death.     Tonty  was  the  only  man  who  realized  the  vast  possibilities  in 


M  HENRY  DE  TONTY. 

this  undeveloped  empire.  Despite  the  discouraging  indifference  at 
•Court  that  repulsed  his  efforts,  he  sought  with  his  feeble  forces  at  the 
Rock  to  hold  the  western  portal  to  this  empire  for  his  adopted  coun- 
try, till  stronger  influences  than  his  own  should  succeed  in  spurring 
the  French  to  fuller  realization  of  neglected  opportunities.  On  his 
lofty  rock  he  reigned  like  a  monarch  over  the  surrounding  tribes,  and 
his  inspiration  and  diplomacy  banded  them  to  united  action  in  repuls- 
ing the  Iroquois.  The  advance  of  the  Five  Nations  was  thus  checked 
and  English  conquest  of  the  western  soil  delayed  for  many  years.  His 
iervices  were  but  ill-requited.  The  greedy  policy  of  the  French  author- 
ities led  to  a  proclamation  against  the  Frenchmen  who  were  trapping 
in  the  western  country,  ordering  their  arrest  and  seizure  of  their  furs. 
Tonty  and  his  companion  La  Forest  were  shown  some  consideration, 
it  is  true.  They  were  expressly  excluded  from  this  inhibition;  but  they 
were  limited  to  two  canoes  in  trading,  not  a  princely  resource  to  main- 
tain their  establishment  on  the  Illinois.  Tonty  was  reduced  to  sending 
a  petition  to  the  minister  of  marine  for  a  company  "that  he  may  con- 
tinue his  services  in  this  country,  where  he  has  not  ceased  to  harass 
the  Iroquois  by  enlisting  the  Illinois  against  them  in  his  majesty's 
cause."  In  this  petition,  wherein  his  services  are  recited  without  adorn- 
ment and  in  the  briefest  possible  manner,  Tonty  presents  his  prayer 
for  a  company  "in  consideration  of  his  voyages  and  heavy  expenses 
and  considering  also  that  during  his  services  of  seven  years  as  cap- 
tain he  has  not  received  any  pay."  Count  Frontenac,  who  was  again 
governor  of  New  France,  strongly  endorsed  this  petition,  but  nothing- 
ever  came  of  it.^^ 

But  if  Tonty's  attempt  to  secure  aid  in  bringing  to  fruition  the 
plans  of  La  Salle  met  with  but  cold  response,  his  efforts  finally  bore 
fruit.  After  La  Salle's  disastrous  expedition  to  Matagorda  Bay,  the 
Mississippi  river  colonization  scheme  was  discredited  at  court.  Not 
till  Tonty's  narrative  was  received,  together  with  an  estimate  prepared 
by  him  for  building  a  vessel  at  the  Arkansas  to  secure  a  cargo  of  buf- 
falo hides  and  pearls  with  which  to  sail  for  France,  was  interest  in 
the  scheme  revived.  An  added  impetus  was  the  rumor  that  the  Eng- 
lish and  Spanish  were  also  about  to  sail  for  the  mouth  of  the  Mississ- 
ippi to  secure  possession  of  this  great  highway.  The  gallant  Le  Moyne 
d'Iberville,  whose  remarkable  exploits  in  New  France  and  in  the  Hud- 
son Bay  country  had  given  him  great  prestige,  had  the  influence  at 
court  which  Tonty  lacked.  With  a  goodly  retinue  he  sailed  for  the 
Mississippi  country  and  went  up  that  stream  to  found  a  colony.  Un- 


12.  Ingratitude  was  the  meed  of  nearly  all  of  the  courageous  pioneers  of  New 
France.  Joliet  and  Perrot  were  allowed  to  die  in  poverty,  if  not  neglect;  Bienville's 
lU-fated  colony  was  left  to  starvation  or  pestilence;  La  Salle's  unfortunate  compan- 
ions at  Matagorda  Bay  were  abandoned,  and  no  effort  was  made  to  rescue  the  survivors 
from  their  captors.  Even  the  lion-hearted  Frontenac  was  made  the  victim  of  an  Indif- 
ferent monarch's  caprices. 


HENRY  DE  TONTY.  35 

•certain  whether  he  had  reached  his  destination,  all  doubts  were  re- 
moved when  an  old  Indian  chief  clad  in  a  coat  of  blue  gave  into  his 
liands  the  letter  which  fourteen  years  before  Tonty  had  confided  to 
the  Bayagoula  chief  to  be  given  to  La  Salle.  At  Biloxi  Bay  they 
erected  a  stockade  and  began  the  settlement  that  was  destined  to  be 
the  foundation  of  Old  Louisiana. 


36  HENRY  DE  TONTY. 


XII. 


WITH   THE   COLONY   OP   OLD   BILOXI. 


Here  Henry  de  Tonty  joined  the  colonists  in  the  year  1700.  For 
nearly  twenty  years  he  had  toiled  in  the  face  of  every  discouragement. 
to  maintain  his  fort  of  St.  Louis.  On  the  25th  day  of  November,  1698^ 
the  Count  Frontenac  died,  and  the  last  hope  that  Tonty  might  have 
entertained  that  he  vi^ould  be  permitted  to  pick  up  the  thread  dropped 
by  his  dead  friend  was  shattered.  Men  less  friendly  and  less  sympa- 
thetic came  into  power.  A  royal  decree  came  abandoning  the  fort  on 
the  Rock.  Determined  to  join  d'Iberville,  with  a  few  faithful  follow- 
ers Tonty  floated  down  the  Illinois,  waving  a  sad  farewell  to  the  bold 
escarpment  on  whose  topmost  level  he  had  made  his  home  so  many 
years. 

The  Louisiana  colonists  received  him  with  open  arms.  For  four 
years  he  shared  their  varied  fortunes,  aiding  them  with  his  knowl- 
edge of  woodcraft  and  savage  lore.  He  made  an  expedition  to  the 
Chickasaw  nation,  when  the  security  of  the  colony  was  threatened.  He 
persuaded  them  to  peace  despite  the  instigation  of  the  English,  who 
sought  to  extinguish  French  colonization  through  the  medium  of 
these  savage  allies.  The  efforts  thus  resulted  in  enlisting  in  the  French 
interests  2,000  Chickasaws.  Among  his  old  Indian  friends,  too,  he 
sought  good  will  for  the  new  arrivals.  His  services  were  of  inesti- 
mable value.  Nor  were  they  all  of  a  pacific  nature.  When  by  an  act 
of  treachery  the  Alabamas  raised  the  hatchet,  Tonty  aided  Bienville 
in  executing  vengeance  upon  the  treacherous  Indians.  He  led  the 
night  surprise  on  the  camp  of  the  enemy,  who  fled  and  left  the  camp, 
with  war  canoes  and  hunting  booty,  to  the  attacking  Frenchmen. 

In  1704  there  arrived  at  the  colony  a  vessel  with  supplies  from 
Havana.  While  the  colonists  were  rejoicing  over  the  acquisition  of 
the  stores,  their  joy  turned  to  terror,  for  with  the  vessel  there  came 
the  germs  of  the  pestilential  scourge,  yellow  fever.  The  vessel's  crew 
was  almost  exterminated.  More  than  half  the  colonists  lay  dead  or 
dying.  Tonty  nursed  the  living  and  helped  to  bury  the  dead.  Finally 
he,  too,  succumbed.  In  the  soil  of  Old  Biloxi,  in  the  month  of  Sep- 
tember, 1704  was  dug  the  grave  of  the  most  unselfish  and  loyal,  as  he 


HENRY  DE  TONTY.  37 

^was  one  of  the  most  courageous  and  intrepid,  of  the  many  knightly 
anen  who  blazed  the  path  whence  entered  civilization  into  what  later 
'became  known  as  the  old  Northwest. 

Where  Tonty  lies  buried  is  not  known.  Some  day  the  farmer's 
plowshare  or  the  workman's  spade  will  unearth  in  the  narrow  penin- 
sula of  Old  Biloxi  a  skeleton  with  a  rusted  iron  hand. 


APPENDIX. 


HENRY  DE  TONTY.  41 


TOXTY'S    PLACE   IN    HISTORY. 

It  has  been  the  lot  of  few  voyageurs  associated  with  the  stirring  history  of  the 
West  to  receive  such  universal  commendation  as  has  been  given  Henry  de  Tonty,  both 
as  to  his  character  and  achievements.  It  is  the  more  disappointing  to  the  student  of 
history  that  the  recorded  facts  of  Tonty's  part  In  the  exploration  of  the  great  valley 
of  the  Mississippi  are  fragmentary  and  scattered.  All  of  the  numerous  accounts  that 
have  been  written  of  La  Salle's  explorations  perforce  have  allusions  to  his  association 
with  Tonty,  but  they  obscure  Tonty's  part  in  these  explorations  or  ignore  it.  It  is  only 
by  putting  together  these  widely  scattered  fragments,  and  patching  them  with  Tonty's 
brief  autobiography,  that  a  connected  narrative  can  be  obtained.  In  this  particular  Ben- 
jamin Suite's  recent  contribution  to  the  Canadian  Royal  Society's  publications,  en- 
titled "Les  Tonty"  and  published  in  Vol.  XI.,  is  very  helpful  to  the  student.  Of  the 
numerous  books  demoted  to  La  Salle,  those  that  contain  the  fullest  details  concerning 
Tonty's  achievements  are  Sparljs'  "Life  of  La  Salle"  and  Parkman's  "Discovery  of  the 
Great  West."  The  last  chapter  of  Tonty's  life— his  connection  with  the  struggling  col- 
ony at  Biloxi— is  best  told  in  Grace  King's   "Sieur  de  Bienville." 

In  some  of  the  local  histories  of  Illinois,  reference  is  made  to  Tonty's  life  at  Starved 
Rock,  but  much  misinformation  is  interspersed. 

Tlie  memoir  of  Tonty  is  published  in  Margry's  "Memoirs  et  Documents,"  Vol  I.  A 
translation  is  given  in  Falconer's  "Discovery  of  the  Mississippi"  and  in  French's  "His- 
torical Collections  of  Loiiisiana,"  Vol  I.     These  books  are  now  rare. 

Tonty's  memoir  was  sent  to  France  in  1693,  and  comprises  an  account  of  "the 
discovery  of  the  Mississippi  and  neighboring  nations  by  M.  de  La  Salle,  from  the  .year 
1678  to  the  time  of  his  death,  and  by  the  Sieur  de  Tonty  to  the  year  1601."  This 
memoir  forms  the  basis  of  a  spurious  work  printed  four  years  later  in  Paris,  entitled 
"Derniers  Decouvertes  dans  I'Amerique  Septrentrionale,  de  M.  de  La  Salle,  par  Che- 
valier Tonti,   Gouverneur  du  Fort  St.  Louis,  atix  Illinois." 

When  Tonty  joined  d'lberville,  he  was  shown  this  document,  and  promptly  dis- 
avowed authorship. 

Of  Tonty's  contemporaries,  Father  Membre  relates  the  story  of  the  retreat  from 
the  Iroquois,  to  Green  Bay;  also  the  first  expedition  to  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi. 
Joutel  mentions  the  reception  of  La  Salle's  unfortunate  companions  at  Ft.  St.  Louis, 
after  their  long  wanderings  in  the  morasses  and  wildernesses  of  the  South;  so  does 
Father  Anastasius  Douay.  Parts  of  these  memoirs  are  published  in  Shea's  "Discovery 
and  Exploration  of  the  Mississippi." 

Hennepin,  in  his  "History  of  Louisiana,"  gives  an  account  of  Father  Ribourde's 
death,  and  censures  Tonty  for  deserting  the  venerable  priest.  Hennepin  admits  that  his 
account  is  based  on  hearsay  evi^dence.  He  is  the  only  historian  who  has  a  word  of  cen- 
sure for  Tonty.  As  Parkman  aptly  says,  Hennepin's  censure  Is  equivalent  to  commenda- 
tion. J 

The  journals  of  Sauvole,  La  Harpe  and  d'lberville  have  references  to  Tonty's  careei 
of  four  years  with  the  Biloxi  colonists.  Charlevoix  (Vol.  3,  Shea's  translation)  gives 
some  account  of  Tonty's  connection  with  the  Fort  St.  Louis  on  the  Illinois. 

Magazine  writers  have  written  without  limit  concerning  the  achievements  of  La 
Salle,  Duluth,  Joliet  and  many  other  voyageurs  of  that  period,  but  the  lack  of  acces- 
sible material  referring  to  Tonty  has  discouraged  them  from  including  his  achievements 
in  the  list  of  favorite  subjects.  Poole's  Index  does  not  contain  a  single  reference  to 
Tonty. 

Parkman  says:  "Those  intimate  with  the  late  lamented  Dr.  Sparks  will  remember 
his  often-expressed  wish  that  justice  should  be  done  to  the  memory  of  Tonty." 

In  fiction.  Sirs.  Mary  Hartwell  Catherwood  has  made  Tonty  the  hero  of  her  charm- 
ingly-told "Story  of  Tonty."  The  man  of  the  iron  hand  also  figures  in  her  shorter 
tale  of  "Little  Renault."  In  these  stories  Mrs.  Catherwood  has  with  rare  fidelity 
limned  scences  of  the  picturesque  life  of  a  most  picturesque  period. 

These  are  the*  estimates  of  Tonty's  character  recorded  by  contemporaneous  and  later 
historians: 


42  HENRY  DE  TONTY. 

"He  (Tonty)  is  beloved  by  all  the  Toyageurs.  It  was  with  deep  regret  that  we 
parted  from  him.  He  is  the  man  who  best  knows  the  country;  he  is  loved  and  feared 
every  where.  "—St.  Cosme,  a  missionary  whom  Tonty  escorted  on  a  journey  in  1699. 

"Tonty  was  a  man  of  capacity,  courage  and  resolution.  •  *  »  All  the  facts  that 
can  be  ascertained  concerning  the  Chevalier  de  Tonty  are  such  as  give  a  higlily  favorable 
impression  of  his  character,  both  as  an  officer  and  a  man.  His  constancy  and  his  steady 
devotion  to  La  Salle  are  marlied  not  only  by  a  strict  obedience  to  orders,  but  by  a 
faithful  friendship  and  chivalrous  generosity.  His  courage  and  address  were  striK- 
ingly  exhibited  in  his  intercourse  with  the  Indans,  as  well  in  war  as  in  peace;  but 
his  acts  were  performed  where  there  were  few  to  observe  and  fewer  to  record 
them.  Hence  it  is  that  historians  have  done  him  but  partial  justice.  And  it  is  most 
unfortunate  that  the  narrative  from  his  own  pen,  originally  written,  as  his  character 
justifies  us  in  believing,  with  fidelity  and  truth,  should  have  been  so  mutilated  and  de- 
formed by  some  mischievous  hand,  as  to  render  it  a  reproach  to  his  name,  rather  than 
what  it  might  have  been,  a  testimony  to  his  merits  and  an  honorable  monument  to  his 
memory." — Jared  Sparlis. 

"He  (La  Salle)  arrived  in  Canada  toward  the  close  of  September,  1678,  with  the 
Sieur  de  Tonty,  an  Italian  gentleman  full  of  spirit  and  resolution,  who  afterward  so 
courageously  and  faithfully  served  him'  in  all  his  designs."— Father  Membrg. 

"About  the  middle  of  February— an  exceedingly  cold  February,  even  Iberville  re- 
marks—while the  clearing,  cutting  and  building  were  in  progress  (at  Biloxi)  there 
arrived  of  an  afternoon  a  visitor  than  whom  no  one  on  the  continent  could  have  been 
more  useful  or  more  welcome  to  Iberville;  this  was  Henry  de  Tonty,  wlthont  question 
the  most  unselfish,  loyal,  stralghtford  and  intelligent  pioneer  France  ever  possessed  In 
America.  He  had  heard  of  the  settlement  at  the  mouth  of  the  river  and  came  to  make 
proffer  of  his  services.  Tonty  here  had  opportunity  to  discover  the  fraudulent  manu- 
script imposed  as  his  upon  Iberville."- Grace  King. 

"The  Sieur  de  Tonty  arrived  at  the  beginning  of  winter  with  several  Frenchmen; 
this  made  our  stay  (at  Ft.  St.  Louis)  much  more  agreeable,  as  this  brave  gentleman 
was  always  inseparably  attached  to  the  interests  of  the  Sieur  de  La  Salle,  whose 
lamentable  fate  we  concealed  from  him,  it  being  our  duty  to  give  the  first  news  to  the 
court."     Father  Douay's  narrative,  as  related  by  Le  Clerq. 

"Although  we  were  destitute  of  succor,  yet  the  Sieur  de  Tonty  never  lost  courage; 
he  kept  up  his  position  among  the  Illinois  either  by  inspiring  them  with  the  hopes  which 
he  built  on  the  Sieur  de  La  Salle's  return,  or  by  Instructing  them  in  the  use  of  fire- 
arms and  many  arts  in  the  European  way.  He  taught  them  how  to  defend  themselves 
by  palisades,  and  even  made  them  erect  a  kind  of  little  fort  with  intrenchments.  so 
that,  had  they  had  a  little  more  courage,  I  have  no  doubt  they  would  have  been  in  a 
position  to  sustain  themselves."- Membre's  relation  of  the  Iroquois  raid  in  the  Illinois 
country. 

"I  cannot  sufficiently  praise  his  (Tonty's)  zeal  for  the  success  of  this  enterprise. 
(Expedition  against  the  Iroquois).  He  is  a  lad  of  great  enterprise  and  boldness,  who  un- 
dertakes considerable.  He  left  Fort  des  Illinois  i^st  February  to  seek  M.  de  La  Salle 
at  the  lower  end  of  the  Mississippi.  He  has  been  as  far  as  the  sea,  where  he  learned 
nothing  of  M.  de  La  Salle  except  that  some  savages  had  seen  him  set  sail  and  go 
towards  the  South.  He  returned  to  Ft.  St.  Louis  des  Illinois  and  thence  to  Montreal, 
where  he  arrived  in  the  beginning  of  July.  You  will  see,  my  Lord,  the  orders  I  have 
issued  for  marching  the  Illinois  in  the  rear  of  the  Iroquois.  He  will  have  to  walk  300 
leagues  overland,  for  these  savages  are  not  cccustomed  to  canoes.  "—Denonville,  gov- 
ernor of  New  France,  in  official  reports  to  the  minister  of  marine. 

"Tonty  must  be  ranked  next  to  La  Salle,  who  contributed  the  most  towards  the 
exploration  and  settlement  of  the  Mississippi  valley."— B.  F.  French. 


HENRY  DE  TONTY.  43 


TONTY'S    PETITION. 

The  petition  of  the  Chevalier  de  Tonty  to  the  Count  de  Pontchartrain,  minister  of 
marine,  bears  no  date.  It  is  believed  to  have  been  written  at  Quebec  in  tlie  year  1690, 
at  which  time  Count  Frontenac  was  governor-general  of  New  France.  The  petition 
of  Tonty,  as  translated  by  Sparks  from  the  original,  deposited  in  the  archives  of  the 
Marine  department  at  Paris,  is  here  given: 

Monseigneur: 

Henry  de  Tonty  humbly  represents  to  your  highness  that  he  entered  the  military 
service  as  a  cadet,  and  was  employed  in  that  capacity  in  the  years  1668  and  1669;  and 
that  he  afterwards  served  as  a  midshipman  four  years,  at  Marseilles  and  Toulon,  and 
made  seven  campaigns,  that  is,  four  on  board  ships  of  war  and  three  in  the  galleys. 
While  at  Messina  he  was  made  a  captain,  and  in  the  interval  lieutenant  of  the  first 
company  of  a  regiment  of  horse.  When  the  enemy  attacked  the  post  of  Libisso  his 
right  hand  was  shot  away  by  a  grenade,  and  he  was  taken  prisoner  and  conducted  to 
Metasse,  where  he  was  detained  sis  months  and  then  exchanged  for  the  sons  of  the 
governor  of  that  place.  He  then  went  to  France,  to  obtain  some  favor  from  his  majesty, 
and  the  king  granted  him  three  hundred  livres.  He  returned  to  the  service  in  Sicily, 
made  the  campaign  as  a  volunteer  in  the  galleys,  and  when  the  troops  were  discharged, 
being  unable  to  obtain  the  employment  he  solicited  at  court,  on  account  of  the  general 
peace,  he  decided,  in  1678,  to  join  th  late  Monsieur  de  LaSalle,  in  order  to  accompany 
him  in  the  discoveries  of  Mexico,  during  which,  until  1682,  he  was  the  only  officer  wha 
did  not  abandon  him. 

These  discoveries  being  finished,  he  remained,  in  1683,  commandant  of  Fort  St. 
Louis  of  the  Illinois;  and,  in  1684,  he  was  there  attacked  by  two  hundred  Iroquois, 
whom  he  repulsed  with  great  loss  on  their  side.  During  the  same  year  he  repaired  to- 
Quebec  under  the  orders  of  M.  de  la  Barre.  In  1685  he  .returned  to  the  Illinois, 
according  to  the  orders  which  he  received  from  the  court,  and  from  M.  de  La  Salle, 
as  a  captain  of  foot  in  a  marine  detachment,  and  governor  of  Fort  St.  Louis.  In 
1686,  he  went  with  forty  men  in  canoes  at  his  own  expense,  as  far  as  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico,  to  seek  for  M.  de  La  Salle.  Not  being  able  to  find  him  there,  he  returned  to 
Montreal  and  put  himself  under  the  orders  of  Monsievir  Denonville,  to  engage  in  the 
war  with  the  Iroquois.  At  the  head  of  a  bapd  of  Indians,  in  1687,  he  proceeded  two 
hundred  leagues  by  land,  and  as  far  In  canoes,  and  joined  the  army,  when,  with 
these  Indians  and  a  company  of  Canadians,  he  forced  the  ambuscade  of  the 
Tsonnonthouans. 

The  campaign  over,  he  returned  to  the  Illinois,  whence  he  departed  In  1689,  to 
go  in  search  of  the  remains  of  M.  de  La  Salle's  colony;  but,  being  deserted  by 
his  men,  and  unable  to  execute  his  design,  he  was  compelled  to  relinquish  it. 
when  he  had  arrived  within  seven  days'  march  of  the  Spaniards.  Ten  months  were- 
spent  in  going  and  returning.  As  he  now  finds  himself  without  employment,  he 
prays  that,  in  consideration  of  his  voyages  and  heavy  expenses,  and  considering  also 
that  during  his  service  of  seven  years  as  captain  he  has  not  received  any  pay,  your 
highness  will  be  pleased  to  obtain  for  him  from  his  majesty  a  company,  with  which 
he  may  continue  his  service  in  this  country,  where  he  has  not  ceased  to  harass 
the  Iroquois  by  enlisting  the  Illinois  against  them  in  his  majesty's  cause. 

And  he  will  continue  his  prayers  for  the  health  of  your  highness. 

HENKY  DE  TONTY. 

Nothing  can  be  more  true  than  the  account  given  by  the  Sieur  de  Tonty  in  this 
petition;  and  should  his  majesty  reinstate  the  seven  companies  which  have  been 
disbanded  in  this  country,  there  will  be  justice  in  granting  one  of  them  to  him, 
or  some  other  recompense  for  the  services  which  he  has  rendered,  and  which  he  is 
now  returning  to  render,  at  Fort  St.   Louis  of  the  Illinois.  FRONTENAC. 


44  HENRY  DE  TONTY 


TAKING  POSSESSION   OF   THE   MISSISSIPPI   VALXiEY. 

When  La  Salle  and  Tonty,  at  the  deltas  of  the  Mississippi,  planted  a  column  and 
attached  the  arms  of  France  thereto,  they  secured  for  the  king  of  France  an  empire, 
■whose  remarkable  richness  even  they  did  not  dream  of.  Of  the  enormous  area  which 
France  acquired  in  the  new  world  through  the  ei^terprise  of  her  early  explorers — from 
Hudson's  Bay  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  and  from  the  Aijplachian  to  the  RoclJy  mountains, 
a  region  drained  by  the  greatest  rivers  of  the  North  American  continent — she  retains 
to-day  not  as  much  as  an  acre.  It  has  been  truly  said  that  the  French  are  quick  to 
seize  and  as  quick  to  release;  the  Anglo-Saxon  slow  to  acquire,  but  tenacious  in  hold- 
ing. 

The  French  took  possession  of  these  inland  empires  without  much  care  in  defining 
limits.  When  at  the  Sault  St.  Marie,  in  1671,  St.  Lusson  in  the  grandiose  manner 
of  the  early  French  commanders,  took  possession  of  the  entire  Western  country,  he 
little  knew  how  vast  that  territory  was;  at  that  time  the  upper  Mississippi  had  not 
been  discovered.  The  territory  which  La  Salle  by  proclamation  added  to  the  pos- 
sessions of  the  French  crown  was  of  even  vaster  extent.  That  part  of  it  situated 
west  of  the  Mississippi  doubled  the  territory  of  the  United  States,  when  in  1803 
Napoleon  relinquished  it  for  the  sum  of  $15,1^KX),000. 

It  took  La  Salle  about  five  minutes  to  formally  take  possession.  These  were  his 
words: 

"In  the  name  of  the  most  high,  mighty,  invincible  and  victorious  Prince,  Louis 
the  Great,  by  the  grace  of  God  king  of  France  and  of  Navarre,  fourteenth  of  that 
name,  this  ninth  day  of  April,  one  thousand  six  hundred  and  eighty-two,  I,  in  virtue 
of  the  commission  of  his  Majesty  which  I  bold  in  my  hand,  and  which  may  be 
seen  by  all  whom  it  may  concern,  have  taken  and  do  now  take,  in  the  name  of 
his  Majesty  and  of  his  successor  to  the  crown,  possession  of  this  country  of  Louis- 
iana, the  seas,  harbors,  ^orts,  bays,  adjacent  straits;  and  all  nations,  people,  prov- 
inces, cities,  towns,  villages,  mines,  minerals,  fisheries,  streams  and  rivers,  com- 
prised in  the  extent  of  the  said  Louisiana,  from  the  mouth  of  the  great  river  St. 
Louis,  on  the  eastern  side,  otherwise  called  Ohio,  Aligbin,  Sipore,  or  Chukagona, 
and  this  with  the  consent  of  the  Chaounons,  Chikachas  and  other  people  dwelling 
therein,  with  whom  we  have  made  alliance;  as  also  along  the  River  Colbert,  or 
Mississippi,  and  rivers  which  discharge  themselves  therein,  fiom  its  source  beyond 
the  country  of  the  Kious  or  Nadouessious,  and  this  with  their  consent,  and  with 
the  consent  of  the  Motantees,  Ilinois,  Mesigamaas,  Natches,  Koroas,  which  are  the 
ttost  considerable  nations  dwelling  therein,  with  whom  also  we  have  made  alliance 
either  by  ourselves,  or  by  others  in  our  behalf,  as  far  as  its  mouth  at  the  sea,  or 
Gulf  of  Mexico,  about  the  twenty-seventh  degree  of  the  elevation  of  the  North  Pole, 
and  also  to  the  mouth  of  the  River  of  Palms;  upon  the  assurance  which  we  have 
received  from  all  these  nations  that  we  are  the  first  Europeans  that  have  descended 
or  ascended  the  said  River  Colbert;  hereby  protesting  against  all  those  who  may 
in  future  undertaJce  to  invade  any  or  all  of  these  countries,  people  or  lands  above 
•described,  to  the  prejudice  of  the  right  of  his  majesty,  acquired  by  the  consent  of 
the  nations  herein  named.  Of  which,  and  of  all  that  can  be  needed,  I  hereby  take  to 
witness  those  who  hear  me,  and  demand  an  act  of  the  notary,  as  required  by  law." 


HENRY  DE  TONTY.  45 


THE  FORT  ON  STARVED  ROCK. 

Francis  Farkman's  description  of  Starved  Rocli  and  tlic  great  Illinois  village: 
Tlie  cliff  called  "Starved  Rock,"  now  pointed  out  to  travelers  as  the  chief 
Batiiral  curiosity  of  the  region,  rises— steep  on  three  sides  as  a  castle  wall — to  the 
height  of  a  hundred  and  twenty-live  feet  above  the  river.  In  front,  it  overhangs 
the  water  that  washes  its  base;  its  western  brow  looks  down  on  the  tops  of  the 
forest  trees  below;  and  on  the  east  lies  a  wide  gorge  or  ravine,  choked  with  the 
mingled  foliage  of  oaks,  walnuts  and  elms;  while  in  its  rocky  depths  a  little  brook 
creeps  down  to  mingle  with  the  river.  From  the  trunk  of  the  stunted  cedar  that 
leans  forward  from  the  brink,  you  may  drop  a  plummet  into  the  river  below,  where 
the  catfish  and  the  turtles  may  plainly  be  seen  gliding  over  the  wrinkled  sands  of 
the  eler  and  shallow  cun-ent.  The  cliff  is  accessible  only  from  behind,  where  a 
man  may  climb  up,  not  witliout  difflciiUy,  by  a  steep  and  narrow  passage.  The 
top  is  about  an  acre  in  extent.  Here,  in  the  month  of  December,  La  Salle  and 
Tonty  began  to  entrench  themselves.  They  cut  away  the  forest  that  crowned 
the  rock,  built  tsorehouses  and  dwellings  of  its  remains,  dragged  timber  up  the 
rugged  pathway,   and  encircled   the  summit  with  a  palisade. 


Go  to  the  banks  of  the  Illinois,  wliere  it  flowes  by  the  village  of  Utiea,  and 
stand  on  the  meadow  that  borders  it  on  the  north.  In  front  glides  the  river,  a 
musket-shot  in  width;  and  from  the  farther  bank  rises,  with  a  gradual  slope, 
a  range  of  wooded  hills  that  hide  from  sight  the  vast  prairie  behind  them.  A 
mile  or  more  on  your  left  these  gentle  acclivities  end  abruytly  in  the  lofty 
front  of  the  great  cliff,  called  by  the  French  the  Rock  of  Ft.  Louis,  looking 
boldly  out  from  the  forests  that  environ  it;  and,  three  miles  distant  on  your 
right,  you  discern  a  gap  in  the  steep  bluffs  that  here  bound  the  valley,  marking 
the  mouth  of  the  river  Vermilion,  called  Aramoni  by  the  French.  Now  stand 
In  fancy  on  this  same  spot  in  the  early  autumn  of  the  year  16S0.  You  are  in  the 
midst  of  the  great  town  of  the  Illinois — hundreds  of  mat-covered  lodges,  and  thou- 
sands of  congregated  savages. 

Enter  one  of  their  dwellings:  they  will  not  think  you  an  intruder.  Some  friendly 
squaw  will  lay  a  mat  for  you  by  the  fire;  you  may  seat  yourself  upon  it,  smoke  your 
pipe  and  study  the  lodge  and  its  inmates  by  the  light  that  streams  through  the  holes 
at  the  top.  Three  or  four  fires  smoke  and  smoulder  on  the  gi-ound  down  the  middle 
of  the  long  arched  structure;  and  ,  as  to  each  fira  there  are  two  families,  the  place 
is  somewhat  crowded  when  all  are  present.  But  now  there  is  breathing  room,  for 
manj-  are  in  the  fields.  A  squaw  sits  weaving  a  mat  of  rushes;  a  warrior,  naked 
except  his  moccasins,  and  tattooed  with  fantastic  devices,  binds  a  stone  arrow-head 
to  its  shaft,  with  the  fresh  sinews  of  a  buffalo.  Some  lie  asleep,  some  sit  staring 
in  vacancy,  some  are  eating,  some  are  squatted  in  lazy  chat  around  a  fire.  The 
smoke  brings  water  to  your  eyes;  the  fleas  annoy  you;  small  unkempt  children,  naked 
as  young  puppies,  crawl  about  your  knees  and  will  not  be  repelled. 

You  have  seen  enough.  You  rise,  and  go  out  again  into  the  sunlight.  It  is,  if 
not  a  peaceful,  at  least  a  languid  scene.  A  few  voices  break  the  stillness,  min- 
gled with  the  joyous  chirping  of  crickets  from  the  grass.  Young  men  lie  Hat  on 
their  faces,  basking  in  the  sun.  A  group  of  their  elders  are  smoking  around  a 
buffalo-skin  on  which  they  h^ive  .iust  been  playing  a  game  of  chance  with  cherry- 
stones. A  lover  and  his  mistress,  perhaps,  sit  together  under  a  shed  of  bark,  without 
uttering  a  word.  Not  far  off  is  the  graveyard,  where  lie  the  dead  of  the  village, 
some  buried  in  the  earth,  some  wrapped  in  skins  and  laid  aloft  on  scaffolds,  above  the 
reach  of  wolves.  In  the  cornfields  around,  you  see  squaws  at  their  labor,  and  chil- 
dren driving  off  intruding  birds;  and  your  eye  ranges  over  the  meadows  beyond 
spangled  with  the  yellow  blossoms  of  the  river-weed  and  the  Rudbeckia,  or  over  the 
bordering  hills   still  green   with   the   foliage   of  summer. 


46  HENRY  DE  TONTY. 

This,  or  something  like  it,  one  may  safely  affirm,  was  the  aspect  of  the  Illinois 
village  at  noon  of  the  tenth  of  September  (1680).  In  a  hut  apart  from  the  rest, 
you  would  probably  have  found  the  Frenchmen.  Among  them  was  a  man,  not  strong 
in  person,  and  disabled,  moreover,  by  the  loss  of  a  hand;  yet,  in  this  den  of  bar- 
barism, betraying  the  language  and  bearing  of  one  formed  in  the  most  polished  civ- 
ilization .of  Europe.     This  was  Henri  Ue  Tonty. 


F 


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